Rangers and Celtic ins and outs all ‘make good sense’

IT is only a couple of months since Celtic’s Academy was getting questioned for letting Champions League finalist, Andy Robertson, get away.

I mention this now because if, as expected, Kieran Tierney departs for Everton this summer, it will be a massive feather in the cap of their Hoops grass-roots system.

The £25m-plus being talked of would smash the existing Scottish transfer record.

Rangers paid Chelsea £13m for Tore Andre Flo back in 2000. Some 15 years later, Southampton gave Celtic a similar fee for Virgil Van Dijk.

To generate that sort of cash from a player you have developed from scratch would be a fantastic achievement for the Celtic Academy, and all the coaches who have worked with Kieran over the years would deserve great individual credit.

It is all the more impressive because Tierney is a left-back, albeit one with the flexibility to operate in a variety of different positions.

Clubs have always been prepared to pay a premium for goalscorers. That applies especially to strikers, but also midfielders.

To get someone prepared to pay that sort of money for a full-back, they have to be exceptional.

For me, he is not quite at that level, but he definitely has the potential to get there.

This, remember, is a player who has already captained both Celtic and Scotland – and he is still only 21!

He has shown up well in the international arena, and has starred in Champions League ties.

But he does need to be at a club where he will be challenged on a weekly basis if he is to make the kind of development we have seen Robertson make at Liverpool.

Having initially struggled, he is now one of the main men.

The pair are, of course, rivals for the Scotland left-back spot, and the prospect of them going head-to-head in the Merseyside derby is an exciting one.

Robertson is ahead just now, so I suspect Tierney may have to settle for playing slightly out of position for his country.

While Celtic are about to lose one fan in a jersey to Everton, they look set to gain another in the shape of John McGinn.

The grandson of former Hoops chairman, Jack, he has long looked set to end up in the east end of Glasgow, and the announcement of the failed bid was not unexpected.

What would be a surprise, in fact, is if he doesn’t start the season as a Celtic player.

Hibs manager Neil Lennon has rated him at £5 million, but that valuation fails to take into account the fact he is in the last 12 months of his contract and therefore free to sign a pre-contract agreement with another club from January 1.

I have liked John ever since he broke through at St Mirren as a teenager, and believe he will be as much a gain for Celtic as he will be a loss for Hibs.

He is powerful, physically strong and has great passing ability. There is aggression to his game, but it is controlled.

Overall he has a great attitude.

And while it is true Celtic’s current captain possesses all those qualities and plays in the same area of the park, Scott Brown is now 33.

He can’t go on forever, so easing in a long-term replacement now makes perfect sense.

Across Glasgow, Steven Gerrard has made sorting out Rangers’ central defence a priority.

Connor Goldson and Nikola Katic were early arrivals following the manager’s appointment, and Bruno Alves was shipped off to Italian club Parma during the week.

The departure of the Portuguese was important because he was on good wages at Ibrox – rumoured to be £35,000-a-week – and we have since seen the club being strongly linked with Jake Cooper of Millwall, who is a former England Under-18, Under-19 and Under-20 internationalist.

Whether or not they are able to get him – and reports from England suggest the Lions want to hold on to their player – it has been encouraging to see the new manager tackle what has been a problem area for the club.

Ross McCrorie, who can also play as a holding midfielder in front of the back line, remains on the books, and I am sure Gerrard will be keen to work with the player.

McCrorie – like Tierney at Celtic – is a genuine talent who was developed on the premises.