Soccer

Brendan Rodgers hoping Arsenal’s Kieran Tierney will rejoin Celtic in days

Deal done for left back to go back to Scotland in summer

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers is hoping that Kieran Tierney will return from Arsenal in the coming days. Photograph: Bradley Collyer/PA Wire
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers is hoping that Kieran Tierney will return from Arsenal in the coming days. Photograph: Bradley Collyer/PA Wire
Ewan Murray
Tue Jan 28 2025 - 19:48

Champions League: Aston Villa v Celtic, Wednesday, 8.0 – Live Virgin Media More & TNT Sports 1

Brendan Rodgers has confirmed for the first time that Celtic have agreed a deal to re-sign Kieran Tierney from Arsenal. With a free transfer in place for the summer, Celtic hope to be able to bring Tierney back to Glasgow before this transfer window closes.

Celtic sold Tierney to Arsenal in 2019 for £25 million, the left back having come through the youth ranks at the Scottish champions. Speculation never really disappeared that Tierney would return to Celtic; those stories intensified after it became clear Arsenal would not take up the option to extend Tierney’s contract at the end of this campaign.

Rodgers had been reluctant to address the Tierney issue until the eve of the Champions League clash with Aston Villa. There he said “ideally” Tierney would move north in the coming days. “He is still, at this moment, an Arsenal player,” said Rodgers. “We are agreed that it will definitely take place in the summer. If we can do it before that, then great.”

Pressed on the likelihood of a January switch for Tierney, possibly on loan, Rodgers said: “I don’t know. We have prepared that for the summer and I don’t want to speak too much on it [because] with the greatest of respect he is not a Celtic player here and now. But if we were able to do it, of course we would like to but that is not in our control at this moment in time.”

READ MORE

Celtic’s need for Tierney this month has intensified after the departure of Álex Valle. The 20-year-old had been on loan in Glasgow for the first half of the season but has been recalled by Barcelona. Valle is now expected to join Como.

“He is in Barcelona at the moment and will probably be heading out to another team,” said Rodgers. “He made something like 20 appearances for us, played in some very important games and made his Champions League debut. So we are disappointed that he has left.”

Celtic also arrived in Birmingham minus the injured Cameron-Carter Vickers. Daizen Maeda is suspended after last week’s red card against Young Boys, with striking options for Rodgers limited further by the sale of Kyogo Furuhashi to Rennes.

Aston Villa defender Tyrone Mings suffered an injury playing against West Ham on Sunday. Photograph: Nick Potts/PA Wire
Aston Villa defender Tyrone Mings suffered an injury playing against West Ham on Sunday. Photograph: Nick Potts/PA Wire

Meanwhile, Unai Emery has allayed fears over another lengthy absence for Tyrone Mings after the Aston Villa defender’s distraught reaction to his latest knee injury against West Ham on Sunday. Emery even floated the idea of Mings facing Celtic on Wednesday, only to be contradicted by the Villa midfielder Jacob Ramsey.

Mings was in tears as he exited early in the 1-1 draw with West Ham. The 31-year-old has been troubled by persistent knee problems, including two anterior cruciate ligament injuries. Understandably, onlookers – and the England international himself – feared the worst on Sunday.

“It is not a big injury,” said Emery, the Villa manager, of Mings’s condition. “But every day is going to be important to see if he feels better or worse. When we play lots of matches, this is the difficulty we have.”

Mings was not pictured at the pre-Celtic training session on Tuesday afternoon, despite Emery planning to assess him there. “We are going to decide how every player is feeling,” said Emery. “We have Lamare Bogarde in the squad as well, he is training every day and competing very well. Sil [Swinkels] is another option because he is training with us, but we are thinking of letting him leave on loan. I think he will need more experience to get minutes.

“We have enough players to compete and feel confidence. For example, Lucas Digne is left-footed and is an experienced player. He can feel confident [playing at centre back]. Firstly, if Tyrone Mings is available then he could play, but if not, Bogarde – who has usually played in midfield – he is training sometimes as a centre back. I am confident and I believe in the squad we have.”

Ramsey appeared to dismiss the notion of Mings facing Celtic as Villa try to qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League without the need for a playoff. Celtic’s playoff place is already secure. “When he came off, you could see how devastated he was,” said Ramsey. “He is a big character, a big leader so it is also good news that it is only a couple of weeks, and hopefully he can get back into the team.”

Emery was effusive in praising Celtic and Rodgers. To his credit the Villa manager refused to mention the scorelines – 5-0 and 7-1 in Emery’s favour – from his time facing Celtic when he was in charge of Paris Saint-Germain.

“They are a winning team and they have a winning mentality,” Emery said. “They are used to winning every week in the league. They have experience, international players, and they will be feeling confident coming here to face us. They will feel they can get close to us in terms of performance.

“I have analysed them and they are in this position because they have a good coach and good players. They have players who now feel like Champions League players. We will need to be ready for that at the start of the match. I have analysed them and watched their matches in this competition. I have no doubt they will come here trying to beat us.” – Guardian