FORMER Celtic treble title winner Gary Mackay-Steven is on the look-out for a new club – at the age of 32.
The one-time Scotland international winger – capped twice – has been without a club since leaving Hearts at the end of his contract in May.
A foot injury forced the tricky, ball-playing forward onto the sidelines for a chunk of last season in which he made only six appearances for the Tynecastle outfit.
Mackay-Steven joined the Hoops in a £2million double deal with Stuart Armstrong from Dundee United in January 2015 and played in three successive championship-winning teams before leaving for Aberdeen in a cut-price £150,000 switch in the summer of 2017.
HOW’S THAT FOR STARTERS…Gary Mackay-Steven prods the ball past Partick Thistle keeper Scott Fox for a debut goal in Celtic’s 3-0 win at Firhill on February 11 2015.
He was signed by Ronny Deila and featured in only eight league games for Brendan Rodgers after the Irishman’s arrival in May 2016. Overall, he played 62 games and scored 10 goals for the Parkhead club.
The emergence of James Forrest and the form of Manchester City loanee Patrick Roberts plus the £4.5million signing of Scott Sinclair from Aston Villa limited opportunities in the top side for Mackay-Steven.
The touchline ace also played for Deila at MLS outfit New York City FC before returning to Scotland with the Edinburgh outfit in January 2021.
He turned out 58 times for Hearts and scored eight goals, ironically one of them against the Hoops on Ange Postecoglou’s Premiership debut in the capital on July 31 2021 when the visitors went down 2-1 to a last-gasp winner from John Souttar after Anthony Ralston had cancelled out his former team-mate’s early opener.
Now Mackay-Steven is searching for a fresh start in the new season.
