According to the latest reports from Goal as cited by Daily Star, Arsenal have made Celtic’s Kieran Tierney their top priority target for the transfer window. Signing a left-back is said to be essential for Unai Emery as he is going to lose the services of Nacho Monreal who is going to be out of contract soon.
It is being reported that Arsenal might only have £40m to play with in the transfer window and in that case, signing Tierney might get them over budget if they want to reinforce the other areas of the squad as well. However, things can change if the Gunners win the Europa League and get the coveted berth in the Champions League after missing out on the top 4 in the Premier League.
Interest from a Premier League club in Tierney is nothing new for Celtic, and they should be confident about keeping hold of him in this crucial summer transfer window. However, things could turn interesting if Arsenal qualifies for the Champions League.
Tierney is quite simply the best fullback in the Premiership, and no one even comes close to him when he is in his element. At 21, he has already started to captain the side when Scott Brown has missed out, and he is an out and out Celtic man.
However, he is likely to move to bigger and better things in the future as he is too good a player to play in the Scottish league for long. Even last summer, Everton wanted to sign him, but they were unwilling to pay £25m for him.
Why should the Hoops not sell him in this window?
It remains to be seen how much Celtic might demand for him this summer. We feel that until and unless the offer is too good to ignore, Celtic should maintain a stance of not selling him. The club is going to go through a significant rebuilding phase as quite a few players are set to depart from Celtic Park.
Backup left-back Emilio Izaguirre is going to be out of contract, and we don’t see the Hoops offering him a new deal. Therefore selling Tierney will add more pressure on the transfer committee as they are already going to have a lot of things on their plate.
How much should Celtic demand?
If Arsenal are not able to come up with an offer of around £35m, then the Hoops should keep hold of Tierney. An established player like him is going to be crucial for the club in the next season as their arch-rivals Rangers are going to try tooth and nail to stop them from winning the 9th consecutive league title.
