Former Rangers legend and captain, Barry Ferguson has branded any potential deal for ex-Celtic defender Kieran Tierney “a snip”. This is following weeks and weeks now of constant speculation regarding the future of KT as he has clearly fallen down the pecking order under Mikel Arteta at Arsenal.
When Tierney left the club back in 2019, it was for a club record fee of £25 million and was usefully put work in the rebuild for Neil Lennon’s second stint as Celtic manager. He went down to England straight away and hit the heights, with many former Arsenal heroes signing the praises of our academy graduate. Ian Wright even insisted that he was a future Gunners captain at one point.
However, since the arrival of Oleksander Zinchenko from Manchester City during the summer transfer window of 2022, Kieran has struggled to hold down a regular spot and has even seen his boss at the Emirates use his right-back on the opposite side of the pitch. The former Hoops sensation will be hoping something gives regarding his future ad he can’t go on in the current situation playing second fiddle to the Ukranian.
The rumours are spreading fast that should Arsenal decide to cash in on the Scotland international, they would be looking for something between £30-35 million for the defender. It’s a price tag that has saw a bitter rival of Celtic Football Club step in to encourage Premier League sides to snap him up at that price.
Speaking on the Go Radio Football Show, Ferguson said: “He’ll be frustrated and he’ll be desperate to go and get minutes, which he’s not getting at Arsenal. I think he’s that type of character.
“I don’t know him personally but judging him by watching him and listening to him, come the summer I don’t think he’ll be at Arsenal. And if I’m a top six English Premier League team, I’d be in for him in a heartbeat. If he becomes available, and for the price they’re talking about as well, at £30million – if you look at some of the full-backs that have moved in England for double that, I think it’s an absolute snip.”
With any luck, hopefully a bidding war begins for his services which will see the Bhoys net a healthy sell-on percentage of the profits from his move elsewhere. Jeremie Frimpong also has a similar deal at Bayer Leverkusen and is being heavily courted by a lot of very high profile and wealthy clubs. It would be some coup if we could generate yet more income this summer from doing virtually nothing. We missed out on the Moussa Dembele windfall and it would really soften the blow with these two banking us a decent boost to Ange’s transfer budget this summer.
Paul Gillespie
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