This is a bit of transfer news that should cheer up the Celtic fans after another miserable night in the Champions League.
Whenever Brendan Rodgers talks about transfers for Celtic, he always speaks about the need to add quality to the squad.
Well, a player who is rumoured to be keen to return to Glasgow after his £25m move turned sour would definitely do that.
Kieran Tierney is reportedly being tracked by Celtic and Aston Villa and is wanted permanently by Real Sociedad according to TeamTalk.
The report says, “Aston Villa have also had their radar on Tierney and could do a deal for £25million in summer.
“There is a belief that Tierney would love to return home but, at only 26, would like to keep playing at the top level for a few more years yet.”
The 26-year-old was sold to Arsenal for £25m back in 2019 [BBC] and after an initial successful start, he found himself falling down the pecking order in Mikel Arteta’s team.
Now on loan at Real Sociedad, Tierney is set to return from injury but is looking for a way out of London for a fresh start.
Celtic fans would love to see Kieran Tierney return
Whilst Greg Taylor has done brilliantly for Celtic domestically, on the European stage the Scotland fullback has been found wanting.
In this Champions League campaign, Celtic’s left side was clearly targetted by Lazio, Feyenoord and Atletico Madrid and Celtic suffered for it.
The lack of quality on that side of the defence has cost Celtic hugely in this campaign and the Celtic fans would be delighted to Tierney back in the position that he was comfortable in both domestically and on the continent.
What Brendan Rodgers has said previously about Kieran Tierney
When the rumours of Tierney possibly returning to Celtic emerged in the summer, the Celtic boss didn’t encourage them but certainly didn’t discourage them either.
Speaking to Football Scotland, Rodgers said, “Listen, I would never speak about Kieran other than the time when I had him here. He’s an Arsenal player and that’s where he is at.
“I think for Kieran himself, he’ll want to play. He’s not a young player anymore, he’s a player who will want to play football, no doubt. Especially where he was with Arsenal for his first couple of years and at times, captaining the club.
“They’ve got a really strong squad, Mikel has done a fantastic job. But for Kieran himself, I’m sure he’ll be looking to go out and play – that’s the way I would see it.”
There is little doubt that Rodgers is a huge admirer of Tierney as he was a pivotal part of his Celtic first team that won back-to-back trebles in his first tenure at the club.
Mikel Arteta on Kieran Tierney’s Arsenal future
Speaking at the beginning of the season, the Arsenal boss seemed to hint that Tierney had a future at the London club.
Speaking in a pre-match press conference in the middle of August, Arteta gave a spikey response when quizzed about the former Celtic man’s future at Arsenal.
Arteta said [The Standard], “Well, he played the [Community Shield], no? So, a player that played five days before in the final is part of the plans, for sure.”
Tierney made just six first-team appearances for The Gunners before being shipped off to Real Sociedad on loan for the rest of the season.
As for Celtic and Tierney, could a move really happen? If the player is keen enough then he would need to make a lot of sacrifices in terms of his weekly wage.
His reported £110k per week salary simply cannot be matched by Celtic and any deal struck is likely to be a loan deal as the Hoops would not be able to afford anything near the £25m Arsenal paid for him.
In other news, ‘Can’t get away from it’… Chris Sutton doesn’t hold back as Celtic exit Europe before Christmas