Celtic winger James Forrest has defended Arsenal’s Kieran Tierney.
Celtic wide man James Forrest has told the Glasgow Evening Times that he is sure Arsenal man Kieran Tierney is ‘committed’ to Scotland.
Scotland take on Cyprus and Kazakhstan over the course of the international break, with the trip to Cyprus coming up on Saturday.
Steve Clarke has issues at left back ahead of that game, as both Andrew Robertson and Kieran Tierney have pulled out of the squad.
That means that Greg Taylor is likely to fill in unless Clarke surprisingly goes with Graeme Shinnie, but some aren’t too happy with Tierney.
Whilst Robertson picked up a knock in action for Liverpool on Sunday, meaning he can’t play, Tierney isn’t out with an injury.
He did have an injury that delayed his Arsenal debut, and the Gunners are keen for him to avoid international duty in order to build up his fitness and ease his workload.
Scotland fans have accused Tierney of a lack of commitment to Scotland having missed the last couple of internationals, but he’d been defended by Celtic ace Forrest.
Forrest, who has played with Tierney for Celtic and Scotland, has suggested that Tierney loves playing for Scotland and is just doing what’s best for him right now, before returning to the Scotland fold in March – but whether fans buy that is another matter.
“He is certainly committed to Scotland. He played for Scotland at an early age and he has captained Scotland too,” said Forrest. “KT loves playing for his country, but he was out for a while and is just getting back in the fold at Arsenal. The main thing for him is to keep doing what he’s doing at Arsenal and be ready for the games in March,” he added.
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