Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta makes surprising admission about Kieran Tierney

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Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has confirmed that Kieran Tierney is “one of the fastest” players in the Gunners ranks.

The 24-year-old has been a revelation for Arsenal since joining in August 2019.

Although it took Tierney a while to get fully up and running due to fitness issues, he’s become an indispensable player for Arteta.

In addition, the Scotland international is a fan favourite due to his talent, hard-working attitude and down-to-earth personality.

Arsenal have endured some tough times over the past few years, but Tierney’s consistency has seen him shine time and time again.

And last week, Jack Wilshere claimed he’d heard that Tierney is the club’s fastest player, also backing him to become captain one day.

“Everyone has spoken about him being a great lad, a natural leader, so potentially yeah [the next captain],” the midfielder told talkSPORT.

“We were doing a sprint test today and I asked the fitness guy, ‘who is the fastest player, is it Aubameyang’ and he said ‘no it’s Kieran Tierney’ – it surprised me.”

Speaking ahead of Arsenal’s meeting with Aston Villa on Friday, the Gunners media team asked Arteta if he could corroborate Wilshere’s claim.

“Yes, well depending on the test, but Kieran for sure is one of the quickest,” he replied.

“Depending on the distances, and the different type of measurements that you want to take. But for sure he’s one of the fastest.”

Earlier this month, Albert Sambi Lokonga answered Arsenal fan questions in a Q&A, which was posted on the club’s YouTube page.

When asked who he thought was the quickest player at the club, he replied: “Ainsley (Maitland-Niles) or Auba… Ainsley’s fast, really fast!”