Having failed to sign a single senior outfield player last summer, Arsenal will surely be active this window and one man that has been strongly linked with a move to the Emirates is Celtic left-back Kieran Tierney.
Clearly the capture of an inexperienced full-back is unlikely to exactly appease an increasingly restless Gunners fan-base but Arsenal seem keen to snap up the best young British talent this summer having already made a bid for Bolton’s England Under 21 defender Rob Holding.
Impressive
Tierney may be a new name to many south of the border but he has really impressed for Celtic in Scotland this term. He has made the left-back role his own making 32 appearances for the club in all competitions and netted his first senior goal with a fine strike in the 7-0 romp against Motherwell on the final day.
His rise has been so dramatic that he made his international debut in March less than 12 months on from his senior debut at club level.
Although born on the Isle of Man, his family moved to Scotland when he was less than a year old and Tierney has always supported Celtic and has been on their books for over a decade already having joined the club’s youth set-up at just 7 years old.
Therefore it would be a wrench for him to leave the Glaswegian giants and given he’s still only 18 and with only one season really under his belt, he may opt that his immediate future is best served at his boyhood club, who would also be reluctant to let him go.
That said Premier League clubs generally have got their way when they’ve gone in for Celtic players in the past few years, so as a compromise any sort of deal could well see Tierney loaned straight back to Celtic for another season as he is highly unlikely to get a regular look in at the Emirates in the immediate future at least.
Archetype of the modern full-back
Tierney is very much the modern day full-back in that he is very comfortable on the ball and likes to get forward as much as possible.
Physically he still has some developing to do though given his tender years and he’s not lightning quick which is at odds with the majority of Arsenal’s other full-backs during the Wenger years.
He has shown great maturity for his age in terms of his positional and all-round defensive game though which suggests he has the ability to ultimately make it in the English Premier League and if rumours are to be believed he has also caught the eye of Manchester City.
The sooner the better
Therefore if interested, Arsenal might be wise to make their move sooner rather than later which would allow them to get Tierney for a fee that is unlikely to be more than a few million pounds though it could well still be a couple of years before he is ready to really make any impact on the Gunners first team.
Written by Mark Sochon
Follow Mark on Twitter @tikitakagol
Check out his brilliant blog on all things La Liga, Tiki-Taka-Gol!
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