NEIL LENNON revealed today that with just six days left until the English Premier League’s Transfer Window slams shut, there has been no further bids for Kieran Tierney. And having failed to meet the asking price that Celtic have set and Arsenal are aware of, there is nothing happening on this front.
Will Arsenal come back in? Who knows. They said they had just £40million to spent this summer but earlier this week spent £72million in Lille winger Nicolas Pepe but it is Tierney who seems to have grabbed the imagination of their supporters. Last night on Twitter ‘Announce Tierney’ was trending across the UK as desperate Gooners begged their club to pay up the required fee so that they could bring some genuine quality to their side.
Hopefully their pleas fall in deaf ears but apart from the inevitable speculation that will grow legs over the next six days, all we can really do is wait and keep our fingers crossed.
And don’t be expecting any signings before the English widow closes. Celtic kick off their domestic season tomorrow against St Johnstone before flying out to Romania to play Cluj and Neil Lennon confirmed that he’s happy with the squad as it stands for now. Asked if he was expecting to sign anyone over the next few days, the answer was a clear, no.
“No, we will have a quiet weekend. At the minute we are content with what we’ve got and we will go into Saturday and Cluj with the squad we have,” Lenny said.
That could change if Arsenal come back in with a £25million offer before that window closes at 5pm next Thursday and the Celtic boss has already said earlier this week in Tallinn, that in the event of Tierney leaving then he’s got contingency plans in place.
You can watch Neil Lennon’s press conference below, courtesy of Celtic’s You Tube channel…
Asked if he expected Arsenal to come back in for KT, this is what the Celtic manager had to say.
“Normally these things tend to happen again so it wouldn’t surprise me, put it that way. That’s not from personal knowledge of anything, that’s just my own experience of things.
“We know the window shuts on Thursday so if we are talking about Arsenal then they have five or six days to come back in with a revised offer.
“Apart from that we will continue on and get Kieran back with us and fit as quickly as possible because he is such an important player.
“I imagine there will be offers coming in. For certain individual players the asking price hasn’t been met and the clubs know what the asking price is. Until that valuation is met we thankfully don’t have a decision.
“But the closer it comes to the end of the window, and then something crops up, we are prepared for that aspect of it, but it’s not welcome.”
The Celtic manager also had a moan about the two suspensions that his side seem to have picked up and noted that Jozo Simunovic was given a TWO match ban for that high tackle in a pre-season friendly when Lenny reckons that a one game ban would have been sufficient.
He confirmed that Bayo is now fit again and is in the squad for tomorrow as is Mikey Johnston and Marian Shved, both of whom impressed in Estonia in midweek.
Lenny also denied that there had been a bid from AC Milan for Kris Ajer, although to be fair to the report in the Italian media (see below) it never claimed that there had been an approach or a bid placed with Celtic.
Also on the Celtic Star today…
‘The quest for the 9 starts tomorrow. It’s going to be a rough old ride,’ Niall J…see HERE.
Celtic’s Champions League victories boosting Scotland’s UEFA coefficient…see HERE.
Kris Ajer’s name pops up on AC Milan’s Shopping List…see HERE.
‘Some Rangers supporters did not seem to like the idea of Celtic’s lap of honour,’ David Potter…Outstanding as always from the Celtic Historian…see HERE.
Scott Brown tells Boastful Rangers, ‘People only remember the name on the trophy’…see HERE.
That Bhoy Burke, Lille back for Jozo after £72m Pepe Windfall, Filip Benkovic…see HERE.
