Arsenal’s Kieran Tierney has started just three Premier League games this season and Newcastle United should be keeping tabs on his situation.
If you go back even less than a year, it’s hard to imagine the Arsenal starting lineup without Tierney being an important player.
Sure, the Scot has been through many injury problems at Arsenal but he was still Mikel Arteta’s first choice at left back.
Then Oleksandr Zinchenko came in and changed everything.
Newcastle should keep an eye on Kieran Tierney
Zinchenko is now Arsenal’s undisputed first-choice left back having arrived from Manchester City over the summer.
Yet even when the Ukrainian was ruled out of late, Arteta turned to Takehiro Tomiyasu – predominantly a right-footer – as his left back.
Tierney hasn’t started a Premier League game since the 3-0 win over Brentford in September.
In Tierney’s six Premier League substitute appearances since then, the minutes played still doesn’t total 90.
The 25-year-old has still been starting Europa League games but this lack of Premier League action has to be a concern and picking Tomiyasu ahead of him won’t feel great.
Few could really blame Tierney if he looked to leave Arsenal in 2023 and one club who should be looking at him closely is Newcastle United.
The Magpies did sign a left back over the summer with Matt Targett arriving permanently from Aston Villa but he has been sharing the workload with Dan Burn.
It looks like neither will be Newcastle’s long-term solution at left back, and the Magpies may look for a quality option just like Tierney in 2023.
One interesting note here is that Eddie Howe allegedly made Tierney his top target for the 2018 summer transfer window at Bournemouth.
That suggests that Tierney is a player Howe admires and whilst he missed out in 2018, there could be a chance to resurrect his interest.
Tierney has so much energy and can make a bigger impact going forward than Burn, whilst you can certainly argue that Tierney still has untapped potential.
Howe has been superb in terms of developing players at Newcastle and Tierney’s work rate and commitment make him ideal for Howe’s approach.
Tierney is too good to be sat on the bench and if his lack of starts carries on into 2023, Newcastle should be looking to lure him to St James’ Park.
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