Former Celtic skipper, Alan Stubbs, believes that his old club should make a move for another attacker plying his trade in Scottish football, and it’s not Lawrence Shankland.
Speaking on The Ladbrokes Social Club, Stubbs feels a move for Hibernian’s Martin Boyle would be one that makes sense as the Hoops continue to strengthen in this January’s transfer window.
So what has Stubbs said?
When asked about the recent speculation linking Celtic with a move for Dundee United’s Shankland, Stubbs said:
“You’ve obviously got Tosh there at the weekend and [Nick] Hammond was there the week before, so they’re obviously watching [Shankland]”.
“Here’s one for you, if I was Neil…Neil loved Martin Boyle. It fits. Neil had a real fondness for Boyley when he was there. He used to talk him up all the time”.
So is Stubbs correct?
First of all, he has failed to assess whether or not Boyle is better than what Celtic already have in Odsonne Edouard, Leigh Griffiths, Vakoun Issouf Bayo and new boy Patryk Klimala.
Boyle is an Australian international and a decent forward but with just 6 goals in 16 appearances for Hibs and two knee operations in the last two seasons, he wouldn’t represent an upgrade or improvement on anything that Neil Lennon already has.
Stubbs also neglects the fact that Boyle predominantly plays as a winger where Celtic are particularly strong with James Forrest, Mikey Johnston, Mohamed Elyounoussi, Daniel Arzani and Marian Shved all available in those areas and again, the Hibs man would be unlikely to dislodge any of them from the first-team.
Would Martin Boyle improve Lennon's attacking options?
Yes
No
Lennon may have liked Boyle when he was at Hibs but this doesn’t mean that he would either be a good fit for Celtic or has the quality necessary to make an impact, fans of the Easter Road club won’t be happy about him pimping out their most potent attacking threat either!