Holt touts Gallagher for Celtic move
DECLAN GALLAGHER has the mental strength and physical toughness needed to play for Celtic in the second half of the 2020/ 21 season – and would help the Parkhead club to score more goals as well as keep clean sheets as they try to resurrect their 10- In- A- Row bid.
That is the opinion of Gallagher’s former manager Gary Holt amid speculation the quadruple treble winners may make a move for the man who helped Scotland qualify for the Euro 2020 finals last year.
Neil Lennon has admitted he is keen to bring in another centre half during the January transfer window and has been linked with the Motherwell captain.
His £ 7 million French defender Christopher Jullien suffered a knee injury in the recent Premiership game against Dundee United and is expected to be out of action for up to four months.
Elsewhere, Shane Duffy, the Republic of Ireland internationalist who returned home early from a warm- weather training camp in Dubai this week, has struggled to find form since joining on a season- long loan deal from Brighton in the summer.
Gallagher is out of contract at Motherwell at the end of the season and would – even though a one year extension clause will be triggered if he plays another six first team games – be available for an affordable fee if their top flight rivals table an offer.
Holt worked with the 29- year- old at Livingston during the 2018/ 19 season and believes he possesses many attributes which would help Celtic, who are 19 points behind Rangers in the league with three games in hand, go on a winning run.
“I always thought he would go on, thought he would go to the next level,” he said. “I did think he might go down to England. He is at that age. He has experience with the number of games he has played and has had international recognition as well. I could certainly see him going down to England and progressing there.
“But if somebody like Celtic comes calling it is a hard one to turn down. He has certainly got the mental capabilities to deal with it. He knows how good he can be, he knows what he needs to do. He has got the experience now of playing games, of playing a regular run of games. He very rarely misses a game.
“He is just an all- round good player. People don’t give him a lot of credit for how good he is on the ball. At Livingston, he created a lot of goals for us. We played three at the back and he was the right centre back, but he was the overlapping one of the three. We got a lot of joy down the right hand side.
“People didn’t realise how good he was. He is very good with his feet. He is also a lot quicker than you think. He is a threat in both boxes too. He might not score many goals, but he takes so much focus onto him because of his height. His assists for goals are phenomenal.”
Rutherglen- born Gallagher was a youth player at Celtic, but he left Parkhead without featuring in a first team game to join Clyde in 2011.
Holt feels the defender, who has established himself as a first- choice selection with his country since being handed his international debut by Steve Clarke against Cyprus last season, has improved enormously in the past two seasons and would add steel to Lennon’s side.
“I used to say that we ( Livingston) were fortunate having boys who were prepared to get hurt in both boxes,” he told Radio Clyde. “That’s what you need.
“He is prepared to go and get hurt in both boxes. He has certainly kicked on massively since he left Livi.”