Summary
A lot of the focus around Arsenal in this transfer window has been regarding incomings. On the Loaded Mag NUFC YouTube Channel though, transfer expert Ben Jacobs’ spoke of a potential departure with interest from clubs both in England and further beyond.
What does the future hold for Arsenal defender?
Arsenal defender Kieran Tierney may well be playing his football in a different colour next season.
Two sides who also boast European football are monitoring the Scotsman with the potential for either a permanent deal, or, more likely, a loan spell away from the Emirates.
Tierney has seen his Arsenal tenure hampered by injuries which is a shame given that this comes in and around some very good runs of form.
Since arriving in London from Celtic back in August 2019, for an SPFL record fee at the time, the fullback has only once surpassed 2,000 minutes. In his first season and most recent season, he fell short of 1,000 minutes.
In 2020/21, Tierney appeared in 27 Premier League fixtures, 26 of which were starts, working out at 2,302 minutes.
What has Ben Jacobs said?
Here is what Ben Jacobs said on the Loaded Mag NUFC podcast.
“The latest news is that a loan option might be expired by Real Sociedad for [Kieran] Tierney, and that may be an indication, depending on if they’re gunning for an obligation to buy or an option, that the player wants game time.
“Arsenal might want that chance to bring him back. Tierney didn’t do much wrong for Arsenal the season before last, it’s just that Zinchenko came in and his game time has been diminished.
“The starting point of Arteta, I understood, was that if Tierney was happy at Arsenal, Arteta was happy with Tierney staying because he’s hugely valued as a squad player and they’re going to have a lot of important games now that they’re back in the Champions League.
“One thing Arsenal learnt last season coming into this season which can help them is that that depth is necessary because as soon as Saliba got injured they faded. What if Zinchenko gets injured? You’d love a player like Tierney there that can come in.
“Obviously, you have to listen to the player and whether he’s happy with that role, which is why a loan might be a solution to buy a bit more time to assess. So that could be one option, a loan somewhere. From Arsenal’s point of view, I highly doubt that they would want to loan to a Premier League team and from Newcastle’s perspective, if they do buy a left back then they’ll want something long-term.
“There are a few sort of moving parts in the Tierney situation, at the beginning of the summer Tierney made it clear that he would be prepared to fight for his place and then from Newcastle’s perspective, as much as they looked at Tierney, Livramento became more likely and it might sound strange to say because again, with Livramento we’re talking about predominantly or almost exclusively, a right-sided player and with Tierney, left-back.”