Charles Watts says that the likelihood is that Newcastle United transfer target Kieran Tierney will leave Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal ‘a little bit later on in the window’.
The 26-year-old hasn’t played as much as he would have liked for Arsenal during the past 12 months – that’s why there have been suggestions that he could leave this summer.
Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United are one of the teams that have expressed interest in his talents, with Arsenal transfer expert and Football London journalist Watts claiming that his chances of leaving are increasing because he isn’t starting games in pre-season, as he told his own YouTube channel.
It was highlighted that, in recent matches, a centre-back and a right-back have started on that left channel whilst Kieran Tierney remains on the bench.
For a while now, it has been suggested that the Magpies would like to take him on board, well, what’s encouraging for the Toon Army faithful is that he is ‘open’ to securing that transfer to St James’ Park.
In terms of squad depth, Tierney would be a welcome stay at the Emirates because he helps boost a team that will be pushing for the Premier League title again next term, with Watts sharing his thoughts.
“His performances so far on the trip have got a lot of people talking,” said Watts. “You have to look at the situation. If Timber is going to play at right-back and he does bring that inverted full-back to the right-hand side, you look at that and think Tierney could be a very, very good option for Arsenal on the left-hand side. You are still going to get width from one of your fullbacks.
“The fact that in Arsenal’s last two pre-season games, we haven’t seen Tierney start yet, Mikel has favoured playing a centre-back and then a right-back in that left-back role, it just still points to Tierney not being a central part of those plans.
“It is hard to get away from the feeling that he is probably still going to go. I would be very happy if Tierney stayed. I think it would make a lot of sense. I think it would give Arsenal a lot of strong options down that left-hand side and then he has a really, really strong squad there.
“It seems like, the more likely option is that he will go a little bit later on in the window. He improves almost every single Premier League team he goes into.”
Tierney would flourish under Howe
The Scotland international does suit Howe’s style more than Arteta’s because Oleksandr Zinchenko is being asked to come in field and dictate play, that’s not Tierney’s game.
Someone like Howe would allow the former Celtic man to dance up and down that flank, with freedom, and that’s exactly what he needs for his game to go to the next level.
Added to that, he would be an upgrade on Dan Burn and Matt Targett, who have served the club well, but now it’s time to be ruthless.
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