Arsenal have been seriously linked with Celtic left back Kieran Tierney after David Ornstein reported today that Arsenal have had a £15m bid rejected.
As reported elsewhere Arsenal have had an opening bid of £15m for Celtic left-back Kieran Tierney rejected – but there is optimism an agreement will be reached between the clubs, while personal terms for the 22-year-old Scotland international shouldn’t be a problem #AFC #CelticFC— David Ornstein (@bbcsport_david) June 22, 2019
Tierney has been linked to a number of rival clubs, including Tottenham, but Arsenal are optimistic of both reaching a price that Celtic will agree and wages for the 22 year old left back.
Arsenal’s first bid has drawn some ridicule. The Gunners offered £15m plus Jenkinson (rumored) and were rejected immediately. Tierney is three time Scottish PFA Young Player of the Year, has 25 assists (along with 5 goals) in 97 appearances for Celtic, and Celtic are believed to want at least £25m for the 22 year old. Tierney is known both for his speed and crunching tackles in Scotland where Celtic have won the League for 8 consecutive seasons* by simply not going bankrupt.
Arsenal have been searching for a left back who can both cross and tackle since Nacho Monreal entered the liminal zone of his career in 2017. Sead Kolasinac was brought in on a Bosman and paid £5m a year but despite a few good matches going forward has struggled to establish himself on both ends of the pitch.
Kieran Tierney (22) and Hector Bellerin (24) both fit the profile of the announced Arsenal rebuild: both are young, technically good, and extremely quick players. Tierney also fits Emery’s system in that he is a fullback who can get forward and play cutbacks.
The Scotsman is tough and was forced to play through pain toward the end of last season having suffered a hernia. He spoke of the pain, saying
“People say it gets a bit better once you’ve warmed up but I’ve yet to feel that way. It’s been absolute agony.” He is currently recovering from major surgery but Arsenal are apparently optimistic of the player passing a fitness test.
If Arsenal sign Tierney they will have both starting fullbacks returning from injury and the only question will be if both players can recover the speed he had before the operation.
*Scotland has an odd system where only two teams play each other 24 times a season. Celtic always wins the title.
Looks like a good player and having him and Hector as our fullback for the foreseeable future seems like a plan is in place. I just have worries about our system not getting the best out of the players we have. Our issues defensively were not really about personnel as much as tactical. Even the injured duo that is pointed at as big misses last season were part of a vulnerable and very lucky defence. I do not really think they could have done much to stop the impending rot that came later on in the season. Our defence can have players playing well, and still concede chances because there isn’t really a way to measure whether the players are doing right by a system, so their individual battles become what they are judged on. Positional weaknesses do not really show up as much in the highlight reels, but that’s what has contributed to so many chances being given to the opposition.
Talent-wise, we are building very well if the links to Saliva are real. We will have, along with Bielik, a young defence either as part of the first team or just behind it. I just hope we can find the right way to play, so that we can then ascertain the defensive system. The way that possession football requires pressing and ways to stop counters, we need to know how we will be attacking so that we can know where we will be exposed, and then address that.
I like the player though, and I will be very excited if he is signed.
Agree with almost everything you’ve said here. A decent coach would have knocked off 5-10 goals conceded by this team easily.
Some interesting points raised there, Definitely food for thought.
I would prefer Grimaldo over Tierney though. He seems to have a playmaking ability akin to Arnold from Liverpool whereas Tierney is more like Robertson, a marauding fullback. The price is high though, and would prefer to have an extra skill, like a playmaking ability, if the 40 million that Celtic demands needs to be fulfilled. If not Grimaldo, an up and coming like Jamal Lewis seems fair and cheaper without the injury record and can also be as good if played regularly in the Arsenal team, which he will.
The Scottish league is garbage, might be one of the worst leagues in Europe. Not sure how much I would trust anyone who has spent that long playing there… and for Celtic to boot who have no competition. If it’s 25m, I say pass.
Never seen him play. But if we get him, it would make him the 4th player in Arsenal history that I’ve signed for Arsenal in Fifa before they joined (Pires, Lauren and Rosicky)
So, yeah, why not?
Fits the age profile. I’m guessing he fits the cutbacks profile, and…sigh.. I’m looking towards the season with some hope after the Freddie thing, but I’m really not looking forward to more cutbacks and crosses and chameleon football.
I guess I don’t really care who we sign and how much we spend. Just how we set up to play.
Pires, Lauren and Rosicky?
On that basis alone i say get him in.
You didn’t sign vitolo did you…?
Until Rangers went into adminstration in 2012 and were sent down to the 4th tier of Scottish Football, they were the “top club” in Scotland with 54 titles… . My mother’s family are Irish so, I had an affinity to Celtic but, more than that, they reminded me of the Arsenal that I supported as a kid. The Arsenal that broke Liverpool’s winning ways, the classy “underdogs”. Celtic are a very efficiently run club by all accounts and, we might scoff at the quality of the league but, they punch above their weight class in Europe (*cough cough* they’ve actually won it once) and have had some standout performances against some of the bigger teams. Several of those recent displays, Tierney has more than risen to the occasion and been Celtic’s MOTM. Apparently, according to interwebs chatter, we should see his performance against Bayern…
devlin, you hit the nail on the head. it doesn’t really matter who arsenal sign in this weird system emery tries to implement.
…or maybe it’s just no one here is smart enough to know what emery is doing. considering the fellows that make up the 7am fellowship, i have a hard time believing that no one can here can comprehend how his approach could possibly lead arsenal to a championship.
btw, i hate VAR. a coincidence, maybe, but every single african team has been screwed by VAR in every WWC match i’ve watched. it’s like tim implied, VAR doesn’t matter if the referees are idiots.
Thanks for the post Tim
I don’t know anything about Tierney but we certainly need an upgrade at LB. Unfortunately that is just the start and we have a huge rebuilding job to do and LB is just the start. We need 1 and possibly 2 new central midfielders, we need a CB and a wide forward who can provide some goals and assists. Like it or not rebuilding a team from the youth academy that can realistically compete for the top of the table and hope to make occasional deep runs in the CL is a pipe dream and our friends not office needs to spend spend our money wisely.
Sorry our that was supposed to say our front office needs to spend our money wisely.
Celtic apparently want 20 mil for Tierney and we bid 15 mil. Now come news that Kroenke and his LA Rams have to pay St. Louis Rams PSL (private seat license) holders 24 mil they are owed after he took their ticket money and then moved his team. That settlement could have covered the Tierney fee with money left over. Oh well. Not that Kroenke puts a dime into the club anyway.