Would Wolves star Barry Douglas have threatened Kieran Tierney’s undisputed first-team berth at Celtic?
If there’s a better left-back in the Football League this season than Barry Douglas then we are yet to see him. The Scottish flyer was hardly Wolves most high-profile summer addition when he arrived from Konyaspor for just £1 million in the summer.
But Douglas is proving to be a key player in a Wolves side who look certain to be a Premier League team this time next year. Not only has the 27-year-old set up seven goals, he has also scored two himself – including a stunning free-kick in last week’s 4-1 thrashing of Leeds United.
It is tempting to wonder where Douglas would have fit in, therefore, had he returned to Scotland with Celtic this summer instead of making that bargain move to Molineux.
Turkish paper Konyanin Sesi reported in June that Celtic had agreed a fee of around £600,000 to sign the former Dundee full-back, only for the big-spending Wolves to jump in and hijack the move.
Selection headache?
Celtic currently boast one of the most highly-rated young left-backs in world football in Kieran Tierney, who rejected huge interest from the Premier League to sign a new long-term contract with his boyhood club recently.
But beyond him, there is a lack of experienced back-up with only academy star Calvin Miller for company after Emilio Izaguirre’s summer exit. But while Tierney is one of the first-names on Celtic’s team sheet, would that have been different had Douglas pulled on the green and white strip this summer?
On current form, it would look harsh indeed to leave Douglas on the bench – meaning Brendan Rodgers has avoided one hell of a selection headache.
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