Greg Taylor has revealed he would have remained at Celtic if he had been given a fair chance to compete directly with Kieran Tierney for the starting left-back role…
The Scotland defender brought his successful six-year spell at Celtic to an end last summer when he opted to join Greek club PAOK. Taylor turned down a contract extension despite repeated efforts from manager Brendan Rodgers to persuade him to stay with the Scottish champions.
Greg Taylor had established himself as Celtic’s regular left-back following his £2million transfer from Kilmarnock in 2019. However, Tierney’s return from Arsenal to the club where he began his career left Taylor facing the prospect of reduced game time.
With that in mind, the 28-year-old concluded that a move away was the best option to secure consistent first-team football and take on a fresh challenge.
Reflecting on his decision, Taylor said in an interview with Open Goal: “I just think it was probably the time for everyone. I’d had an amazing six years there, it was probably looking likely that Kieran was coming back.
“I was at the age I wanted to play regularly, that was probably the main reason for going. In the January, Zagreb were really keen for me to go there at that point but I was determined I wanted to stay and finish the season.”
“We were doing well in the Champions League and had the chance of the Treble. I was really determined that no matter what, I wasn’t completely ruling out staying at Celtic, but I definitely wanted to finish the season.”
Taylor added: “The season finished, we lost the cup final. After doing so well for so long, that was sad, and probably not getting the chance to say goodbye properly because you didn’t know 100 per cent you were going.”
“I had a bit of interest here, there and everywhere, but I hadn’t decided what I wanted to do.”
Taylor candidly acknowledged that he would have signed a new deal at Celtic, provided a specific circumstance had been met.
Taylor admitted: “If I knew I was going to be the guy who was playing all the games… the way it had been pretty much. I’m not saying I was shirking competition, because there had been five or six left-backs that came to Celtic when I had been there. So it wasn’t that.”
“But I had the feeling that probably wasn’t going to be the case as such – it wasn’t maybe a fair fight. It became clearer that it was going to have to be somewhere else.”
“But even until I signed for PAOK, I still didn’t know completely. I phoned the manager, Brendan, a couple of days before it and at that point he said he hoped that I was calling to say I was coming back.”
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