KIERAN TIERNEY has officially left Celtic and with the dust just about settling, Neil Lennon must now turn his attention to finding a successor for the Scotland internationalist.

The Celtic manager has already confirmed that a new left-back will be joining the club to fill the void left by Tierney, but no names have been confirmed by the Northern Irishman as yet.

Boli Bolingoli has, of course, already been recruited this summer but Celtic still require another left-sided defender for the upcoming campaign. The Belgian hasn't got off to the best start at Celtic Park so far - Bolingoli had a torrid time against Cluj in Celtic's 1-1 draw in Romania earlier in the week - but it is still early days and there remains a definite sense that the best is yet to come from the 24-year-old.

Kilmarnock defender Greg Taylor is a name that has been thrown up by some Celtic supporters as a potential replacement for Tierney, and there is little doubt that the 21-year-old has got what it takes to make the grade at Parkhead.

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Comparing any prospective signing's stats to Tierney's feels a little unfair, given the fact that the 22-year-old is one of the brightest prospects for a left-back of his age on the continent, but these figures still give an indication of how Taylor would measure up compared to Arsenal's new signing.

The stats above are taken from last season's Premiership campaign, and there are a few interesting things to note. Taylor completed more defensive actions than Tierney did last season, but this is to be expected; after all, a Kilmarnock defender is always going to be busier than a full-back playing for the champions, who dominate the ball in just about every league fixture.

Rather than focussing on Taylor's defensive actions per 90 minutes, then, it is probably best to examine his success rate when it comes to tackles and headers. Aerially, Taylor has the edge over Tierney, but wins 7% fewer tackles than the Scotland internationalist.

This is not to say that Taylor is lacking defensively-speaking, though. Tierney had the fourth-highest tackling success rate of any Premiership player last season. And when we look at each Premiership full-back's tackling success, only Tierney and Rangers captain James Tavernier won a higher proportion of their challenges than Taylor did. The Kilmarnock player is one of the Scottish top flight's best in this regard and it is not unreasonable to assume that with the correct coaching, he could get even better.

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Of course, full-backs are required to do more than simply defend in the modern game. The above graphic compares Taylor's attacking ouput to Tierney's and a couple of things jump out straight away.

We'll start with the two players' dribbling. Tierney averaged three times as many dribbles than Taylor did in the league last season and around twice as many progressive runs (where the player carries the ball at least 10 metres up the pitch). Additionally, Tierney was far more successful with the ball at his feet; just 44% of Taylor's dribbles were successful, compared to Tierney's 68%.

Tierney averaged nearly twice as many passes as Taylor last season - again, hardly a surprise - and did so with a greater degree of accuracy. But when it comes down to comparing the two players' crossing ability, Taylor has the edge. He hit fewer than Tierney, but did so more accurately.

In terms of attacking actions per 90 minutes, Tierney was always going to come out on top. Just like Taylor was always going to be busier in terms of his defensive output, Tierney was always going to have more of the ball in attacking scenarios. But the data suggests that, while Taylor is not Tierney, he could be an excellent player if coached correctly at Parkhead.

From a defensive perspective, there is no question that Taylor is good enough to play for Celtic. The Kilmarnock left-back still has some way to go to improve in an attacking sense - particularly when it comes to his dribbling - but the numbers show that the raw ingredients are there. Yes, Taylor is not as good as Tierney but any Celtic fans expecting a like-for-like replacement are going to be sorely disappointed, for the simple reason that players like him are rare. Taylor is as good as anyone that Celtic could realistically recruit and is certainly worth taking a punt on. He's not Tierney, but he isn't a million miles away.