Kieran Tierney has been away from his boyhood club Celtic for six years, hoping to build a name for himself in the Premier League.
Even if Celtic would have like to keep Tierney in 2019, Arsenal’s offer of £25 million was too good to pass up.
Since then, Celtic have remained dominant, winning their fourth Premiership title in a row this season and 55th overall.
Tierney made his name in Arsenal colours, becoming a fan favourite, but he has had a mixed career, particularly in recent years.
The 27-year-old did not play for Mikel Arteta for nearly two years, including a loan spell at Real Sociedad in Spain last season.
Tierney returned to the pitch for Arsenal in December after suffering an injury during the summer’s Euro 2024 tournament.
But not in the way he would have preferred, especially as a burgeoning young star has taken over the left-back position at the Emirates Stadium while he was away.
It appears like Arteta had a different approach with his left-back, including asking them to play inverted, which is not Tierney’s game.
In any case, Gary Neville believes Arteta has had a’massive problem’ at left-back over the years, citing Tierney.
However, Neville believes things are changing because emerging teenage star Myles Lewis-Skelly is making it his own, as he told Sky Sports.
“That has been a massive problem position for Arsenal,” Neville remarked of the London club’s left-back situation.
“Tierney, Zinchenko, and Kiwior has played there. Tomiyasu has played there. Timber has gone there.
“He (Lewis-Skelly) has gone in and made it look it is his. It’s like he has always been there. That’s the biggest compliment you can pay a player. That they slot in. Saka has done it for Arsenal in the last few years – it’s incredible what he is doing.”
Few will argue that it was time for Tierney to move on because he was stagnant and not advancing during a critical moment of his career.
Tierney is at his peak, yet despite being fit and available since December, he has only played little more than 300 minutes across all competitions.
It will be interesting to watch how Brendan Rodgers employs Tierney next season, especially because Greg Taylor has been used in that area and is always coming into midfield – but he is expected to leave this summer.
Will anything change? The idea of Tierney and Daizen Maeda bombing down that left flank is appealing.
