Boss Mikel Arteta opted to keep Kieran Tierney at Arsenal rather than allow him to go to Celtic – but the player is facing up to a nightmare final six months.
Brendan Rodgers confirmed the defender has agreed a pre-contract return to Parkhead with his contract at the Emirates set to expire in the summer – but a deal could not be agreed to bring him back to Celtic early on loan with Jeffrey Schlupp signed on deadline day to provide cover for Greg Taylor at left-back. But having made just one start in his five appearances for the Premier League side, the Scotland international looks set to continue to be a peripheral figure at the Emirates for the remainder of his contract.
The 27-year-old has fallen behind rising talent Myles Lewis-Skelly in the pecking order with Tierney and Oleksandr Zinchenko made to watch on as the Arsenal academy graduate battles Riccardo Calafiori for a starting spot. The Italian’s return from injury has seen the Celtic-bound defender drift further from Arteta’s thoughts as he once again remained on the bench for the rout of Manchester City last weekend.
And going into the League Cup clash with Newcastle United, the Spaniard hyped up the impact of Lewis-Skelly. He said: “The players will be best [placed] to express how they feel about Myles in this particular game, because they are sitting next to each other, they share the pitch which is the most important thing.
“What I’ve always said is how they feel about these young players when they come in – do they trust them, do they feel like they’re stronger with them and that’s the feeling that I get when we give them that opportunity. For me, they are ready in our eyes, but in the team’s feeling as well, they feel that they can be better with them.”
Pressed on if the likes of Tierney and Zinchenko would have been allowed to leave had more business been done in the winter window, Arteta responded: “Now I focus on the number that I have, how to maximise them, how to make the best out of them. With all the problems we have already had, we are in February, and I think it’s remarkable what the team has done, so I have full faith in them.”
When he does return to Glasgow’s east end, Tierney will bring with him a patchy injury record that has hampered his time with the Gunners and his loan spell at Real Sociedad. But former Scotland international Kevin Gallacher insists the Premiership leaders have landed a top signing.
Writing for the Sunday Post, he said: “The agreement is a coup with Leicester City, West Ham and Brentford all having been interested in signing Tierney. Instead, he has opted to go back to Scotland, back to his boyhood club, back to the environment that made him what he is.
“That is a big seal of approval for the Scottish Premiership, a division which continues to take a fair bit of flak south of the border. This is a player, don’t forget, who not only has plenty of experience playing at the highest level in England but who also has had the chance to sample life in La Liga, having spent a season on loan in San Sebastian with Real Sociedad.
“Injury restricted the amount of game time he got there, as it has at Arsenal. It has been disappointing however, to read on social media fans of the teams he will not be joining describing their failure as “a bullet dodged” because “he is always injured.”
“I do not believe they would be saying that if it was an English player they were talking about. Probably not if it was a Frenchman or a German either. But I think because he is Scottish, they reckon they will take the chance to rub a little bit of salt in the wounds.
“It is not fair on Tierney because he is someone who has been a model professional throughout his career. And, as much as he has had issues with injury from an early age, he never fails to come back stronger than ever. Arsenal’s decision not to let him move on early is proof of that.
“I am told when you include internationals, he has averaged over 30 games a season in his time in England, which is not too bad. With a team like Arsenal, who generally are in the Champions League every year, plus good runs in the cups as often as not, you are going to play probably 50-odd games a season. So you can see how he can have injury issues yet still tally up plenty of appearances.”