'No meeting': 25-year-old now suggests Celtic never really tried to stop him leaving Parkhead

By Ben Evans

Former Celtic defender Kieran Tierney has suggested that the club never tried to stop him from joining Arsenal.

Speaking on The Currie Club, Tierney addressed how his move from Celtic to Arsenal came about.

Tierney joined Arsenal for £25m in 2019, and became the most expensive Scottish player of all time as a result.

The left-back has been brilliant in an Arsenal shirt since arriving, but has struggled with injuries.

Tierney has missed nearly 50 matches in the three seasons he’s been at the club.

He lost his place in the starting line-up to Oleksandr Zinchenko at the start of the season when he was signed from Manchester City.

In recent matches, Takehiro Tomiyasu has been played on the left ahead of Tierney in Zinchenko’s absence.

Arteta has said that Tierney is desperate to play this season, but his starts have mainly been limited to the Europa League.

He’s a regular substitute in the Premier League, but hasn’t broken into Arteta first-team this season.

Celtic didn’t try to stop Tierney leaving

The 25-year-old was speaking about how he ended up leaving Parkhead for The Emirates.

Tierney believes that Celtic didn’t try to stop him leaving as the deal suited everyone.

“It was hard to say. There was no meeting or a contract or anything,” Tierney said.

“That’s not their fault but at the time it made sense for everyone, really.

“They had brought someone through the youth academy who they were so proud of and is going for a record fee.

“And I was someone who loved the club and gave 100% commitment from the day I joined at seven until the day I left and I was going on to play for a huge club as well.”

Tierney ended up making 170 appearances by the time he left Celtic, and won 11 major honours.

He’s already added to his trophy haul at Arsenal with an FA Cup and Community Shield.

Celtic always have a number of academy products in their first-team, such is the strength of their academy.

Given the financial strength of the Premier League, it’s always going to be difficult to keep hold of their most talented players.

It’s therefore no surprise that Celtic didn’t try to stop Tierney leaving, as his massive fee would have funded plenty of incomings to improve the squad.