Sources: Celtic get serious in bid to bring Kieran Tierney back from Arsenal
Brendan Rodgers, Kieran Tierney Celtic
TEAMtalk understands that Brendan Rodgers is pushing Celtic hard to offer Kieran Tierney a route back to the club this summer.
Arsenal star Tierney has sunk down the pecking order at the Emirates in the last 12 months following the arrival of Oleksandr Zinchenko from Manchester City at the start of last season. As a result, the 26-year-old was restricted to just six Premier League starts.
Now it seems the Gunners are ready to cash in, having made it clear they want to sell the player rather than loan him out. Having spent £25m on him back in 2019, Arsenal are looking for a small profit on their investment, placing a figure of £30m on his head.
Newcastle are long-term admirers of the player but appear to have been put off by the valuation and are instead closing on a deal for Chelsea’s Lewis Hall. The Magpies will pay the Blues £28m for Hall, albeit the payments will likely be deferred for an initial 12 months. That was something Arsenal were not prepared to do with Tierney.
Now Celtic are keen and hoping to talk Arsenal into a deal, although the structure of which is yet to be decided.
Indeed, Celtic are aware of Arsenal’s wish to offload the player and believe his price could lower towards the back end of the window.
However, Rodgers is desperate to reunite with his former charge, having also tried to sign Tierney during his stint as Leicester boss.
Now we underdstand he is asking his Celtic bosses to negotiate terms with Arsenal for Tierney.
No way back at Arsenal for Tierney
In another TEAMtalk exclusive, Charles Watts has revealed that there is no way back for Tierney at Arsenal despite the recent ACL injury sustained by summer signing Jurrien Timber which looks likely to end his season.
“There’s certainly stuff going on with Kieran Tierney and he was left out of the squad matchday squad completely at the weekend which I think was pretty harsh,” says Watts.
“He played really well in pre-season whenever he’d come on in games and made a big, big impact. He looked good and looked hungry and for a player like Kieran Tierney to not even make a matchday squad is a little bit harsh, but it says a lot about where he is right now.
“Jurrien Timber has now got this injury that we’re expecting is going to rule him out for a huge amount of the season and he’s been playing at left-back recently. Zinchenko’s injured.
“People have suggested maybe Timber’s injury might mean that Tierney will stay. I’d be surprised. I still think Tierney goes. Arsenal have got on that left-hand side Zinchenko, [Takehiro] Tomiyasu and [Jakob] Kiwior who have all been preferred to Tierney in that position. So I just don’t really see Timber’s injury having an impact on Tierney’s future.”
Whether Celtic can talk Arsenal into a deal remains to be seen. However, with Celtic able to offer Champions League football, and with the club particularly close to his heart, it is likely to be a move that the 39-times capped Scotland star favours.
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