Tierney to come home? With all this talk recently of reuniting the old brigade, Celtic should be looking to the future, not the past

In the past week or so, the media has been full of stories about former Celtic players returning to the club.

So far, we’ve heard rumours about Kieran Tierney, Stuart Armstrong, Odsonne Edouard, and Fraser Forster returning to the club.

Let’s get real here, it’s highly unlikely any of these players will return to Celtic.

All of them have been pocketing grotesque EPL wages, with the exception of Armstrong, who spent one season in the Championship.

Despite that, I’m pretty sure his wages still would have been pretty high, and most likely well above the Celtic wage cap.

Does anyone realistically think they would return to Celtic, and take the wage cut involved in such a move?

I know people can speak of Joe Hart as an example, but he was an exception to the rule.

He knew his playing days in England were numbered.

Hart knew the opportunity at Celtic would guarantee him first team football, and he clearly took it with both hands.

Now he has no regrets.

He’s retiring from the game having won 7 trophies during his 3 year stint at the club.

Stuart Armstrong is now 32 years old.

Fraser Forster is 36, two years older than Joe Hart was when he arrived at Celtic in 2021.

Moving for players like these would be a step backwards, not forward.

Celtic need to secure a goalkeeper for the long term, not the short term.

Forster could maybe guarantee us 2 years.

And in reality, going back to the same well for a third time would just show no ambition.

While Armstrong has the experience, at 32, it’s debatable where he’d fit into our midfield.

Remember that James McCarthy was only 30 when he arrived Celtic in 2021.

The less said about that the better.

With regard to the Odsonne Edouard rumours, well for me personally, I wouldn’t have Edouard any where near the club again.

Not that my opinion matters, Crystal Palace have slapped a £20 million price tag on him.

Celtic, sure as hell, would not fork out that kind of money for any player.

Especially when you consider the fact that in 98 appearance for Palace, Edouard has managed a return of just 18 goals.

My reasoning behind not wanting him back?

His attitude in the 10IAR season.

People have a tendency to forget that Edouard just seemed to down tools for that season.

He wanted out of the club, and his performances were indicative of that attitude.

I know that whole debacle cannot just be pinned on him, but he didn’t exactly help our cause during that ill-fated season.

Bringing him back would be similar to the way the Ibrox club welcomed Kyle Lafferty, Steven Davis, and Allan McGregor back.

Something we were very quick to ridicule at the time.

Either way, his asking price makes a return very unlikely.

Out of all the four players mentioned, Kieran Tierney is the one I’d love to see return to the club.

Tierney himself seems open to a move, but once again, it’s the price tag and wages that could prove the stumbling block here.

In an article in yesterday’s Record, Tierney spoke about the circumstances it would take for him to consider a return to his boyhood heroes:

I don’t regret it (leaving Celtic). I still miss it but I knew life would never be the same. I was living my dream. Being a footballer is the dream but playing for Celtic was the ultimate.

I left that to go and challenge myself in the Premier League and come up against the best to see how I’d cope. If I go back, I want to be feeling how I did there before.

I’ll be a different player to what I was, as I’ve been away for years, but I wouldn’t want to go back if I wasn’t feeling 100 per cent in my body. I know the intensity and the demand to win so, if I go back, it will be when I’m still feeling good.

Clearly Tierney would welcome a return.

But I think a lot of pieces would have to fall in to place for this to happen.

Also, reading between the lines, I don’t think Tierney is indicating that he’d be willing to move right now, but possibly in the near future.

There were a lot of if’s in there.

The club has never quite managed to adequately replace Tierney since he left, and they’ve spent almost £10 million in that process, taking the likes of Greg Taylor, Boli Bolingoli, Diego Laxalt, and Alexandro Bernabei into account.

One out of four of those players proved moderately successful in Greg Taylor.

And while Taylor cannot be faulted for effort and commitment, it’s his physicality that lets him down on occasion.

Just the kind of physicality that Kieran Tierney has in spades.

At 27, he still has his best years ahead of him.

There is a sound kind of logic in paying the asking price of £10 million set by Arsenal for Tierney.

We’ve spent that much on trying to get the position right.

So why not spend it on one player, who, if he can avoid injuries, would be a perfect fit?

Put in an opening bid of £8 million, and see where it takes us?

It’s not as if we can’t afford it, is it?

Whether Tierney would accept wages of £35,000 per week or so, well, that’s another question entirely.

So, while I would welcome Tierney back, the other three I just wouldn’t entertain.

We need to look forward, not back.

Kieran Tierney would be the kind of player who would fit into that forward momentum.

He would help to take the club forward.

The club is in his DNA, he has a spiritual connection with Celtic.

Something I don’t think Edouard, Armstrong, and Forster posess.

Outside of that, we need young, fresh blood in the team.

That’s why we need to look forward, not back.

This upcoming transfer window is a chance to consign last year’s summer transfer debacle to history.

There will be no excuses for anything less.

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