The Daily Record ran a story today, with the benefit of hindsight of course, to question if Celtic missed a trick in not signing Lyndon Dykes in the transfer window. But what did Dykes do to warrant a bid from the Hoops?
Let’s break it down. The big Aussie started his career playing rugby league. He then went onto playing youth league football in Australia for Mudgeeraba before joining Merrimac FC. Dykes He then played in the 2015 National Premier Leagues Queensland with Redlands United and joined Gold Coast City FC the year after but soon departed to play that season for Surfers Paradise Apollo SC for one month.
Dykes then went on a tour of England with the Australian schoolboys before returning to Dumfries to play for Queen of the South u-20’s scoring 22 goals in 14 games before returning to Australia in January 2015.
Dykes returned to Scotland in June 2016 and signed for the Doonhamers and spent three seasons there playing 136 league and cup games scoring 23 goals and creating 34 assists. Dykes then signed for Livingston where he made his competitive debut for the Lions in July 2019. During his first and only season with Livingston he scored 14 goals in 36 games, including a goal in their famous 2-0 home against Celtic and he was also the first Livingston player to score a hat-trick for the club in the top Scottish Division.
His form in his first season in the Scottish top flight saw him secure a £2m move to QPR where he has scored 3 in 9 games.
While his form for his country has been impressive, scoring two goals in six games, it was his performance against Serbia that made him shine on the international scene.
Celtic (or Rangers) may well have missed a trick in signing Dykes but it is easier to perform at lower to middle league table clubs than it is to cope with the demand of winning week in week out with the Scottish Champions and it could also be said he may well have flourished at Celtic as he would have been on the end of better delivery and more scoring chances than at Livingston or Queen of the South.
When it became apparent that Dykes was on his way I don’t recall too many Hoops fans endorsing a move for the big Aussie. Many, I believe, felt he wasn’t good enough to cope with the demands of Celtic.
Dykes certainly has set the international scene on fire and started well at QPR, but will his form continue in the same vein as the expectation and demands from the player increases? Would he have got ahead of Edouard, Griffiths or Ajeti? You could even argue he may have been behind Klimala in the pecking order. It’s a question we will never know the answer.