NEIL LENNON has no fears that Kieran Tierney would pass a medical if the situation was to arise over the next few weeks – despite his ongoing problems relating to his double hernia operation at the end of May.
“I wouldn’t have thought so, no,” The Celtic manager said at yesterday’s Media Conference ahead of tonight’s Champions League Qualifier against Sarajevo.
“It is one of these sort of ongoing conditions that causes discomfort and he was in a lot of discomfort towards the end of last season, to the point where he was struggling to get out of bed.
“It’s a question of trying to let that settle. He is back out on the grass now, which is a good sign.
“I’d like to think in the next two or three weeks he will be maybe not playing, but back into full training anyway.”
After explaining that the second bid from Arsenal had been knocked back as Celtic were resolute in standing their ground on the £25million minimum price for KT, Neil Lennon insisted that anyone getting Tierney for just £25million would be getting a real bargain.
“It’s huge money but he’s a huge player.
“It’s important that we have a valuation of the player and if it’s not met then it’s not met.
“You know, we don’t have to sell. This is what we’re saying – we don’t want to sell. But sometimes players leave and even big players.
“Cristiano Ronaldo left Man United and they’re the biggest club in the world so sometimes these things happen.
“From a business point of view it may be substantial for the club but from a footballing point of view long-term it may be detrimental to us.
“We’ve had some great players here and there’s no question Kieran could play in the Premier League.
“We’ve had Virgil van Dijk, Victor Wanyama, Fraser Forster, Gary Hooper, Moussa Dembele – all these players – and Kieran is as good and in that bracket.
“So he has a price and a valuation and the way the market is in England it could even look like a bargain when you think of Aaron Wan-Bissaka going for £50m.
“Listen, we can’t think about what clubs do in England because we can only affect our own criteria. But the bar has been set by the club and they’re pretty adamant they’re not moving on it. For nobody.”
Watch Neil Lennon speaking at yesterday’s Media Conference on the article on The Celtic Star published last night.
