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Bid imminent: Arsenal expected to sign 22-year-old star with late swoop

By on August 7, 2019

According to reports, Arsenal remain interested in signing Kieran Tierney and are expected to finally get a deal agreed with Celtic ahead of Thursday evening’s deadline.

Tierney has been strongly linked with a move to Arsenal throughout the summer after Unai Emery identified the Scottish international as an upgrade on our current options at left-back amid on-going doubts over Nacho Monreal and Sead Kolasinac.

It’s been a frustrating pursuit as Celtic have rejected two offers for the 22-year-old – the latest met their £25m valuation but the SPL champions weren’t happy with the structure of the deal as it included too many add-ons related to us qualifying for the Champions League.

Celtic want more of the £25m fee to be guaranteed rather than in bonuses and things have gone a little quiet over the past week leading to suggestions Arsenal may have moved on to alternative targets.

However, Scottish journalist Michael McGarry has told the Daily Record podcast that Arsenal have been waiting to see if Celtic would lower their demands and are expected to go back in with another offer over the coming hours.

McGarry says Celtic are anticipating a renewed effort from Arsenal to get the deal over the line before the window shuts at 5pm on Thursday and he feels a move is inevitably going to happen.

The Scottish reporter says Tierney knows he needs to leave his boyhood club to further his career and Celtic are happy to cash-in if the money is right, so a move to the Premier League has been in the pipeline for some time.

There have been reports suggesting a proposed move to Arsenal could be delayed until January as Tierney was facing up to 8 weeks on the sidelines due to niggling injury problems.

However, Celtic boss Neil Lennon has played down those reports by insisting the full-back will be fit within 2 weeks and he also confirmed he’s expecting Arsenal to come back in with another bid before the deadline.

Lennon is quoted as saying by the Metro:

‘We were talking about it on the plane over here as it’s all gone a bit quiet, which is surprising for me. I know these deals can get done at a minute to twelve.  I’d be surprised if there wasn’t another offer for Kieran, but delighted.’

‘He’ll be fit in a week or two. He still has some abductor pain, but I think the pubic problem is starting to settle and he’s over the double hernia,’

‘I know there is talk of him being out for another eight weeks, but that’s nonsense. I don’t know where that’s come from. ‘He’s missed the whole of pre-season, but I’d say he’s more or less a week away from getting back integrated to the training.’

To me, this sounds like Lennon is trying to ease Arsenal’s concerns over his injury problems and is inviting us to table another offer. Celtic are already planning for life without Tierney as they’ve lined-up Rico Henry as his replacement.

Celtic clearly want to cash-in and I think a deal will eventually be done before the window closes. Let’s hope so as Tierney would be an excellent addition to the squad…