Exit interviews: Kieran Tierney

Should Arsenal sell the Scottish left back?

Exit Interviews is a series where Scott and Adam share their opinions on next steps for select Arsenal players. The series will run through early June.

It’s been a long season for Kieran Tierney. The left back, once thought a future Arsenal captain, has faded into the periphery as Mikel Arteta favors Oleksandr Zinchenko because of the latter’s passing ability and creativity.

Tierney has made just 6 Premier League starts for Arsenal, and more than once was passed up for the likes of Takehiro Tomiyasu, or more recently Jakub Kiwior, as Arteta feels out future solutions. With links already out there including Newcastle and Aston Villa, what should Arsenal do?

Adam: The discourse around Tierney this season has been really tough to participate in. He’s still got a number of - understandably - ardent supporters, some of whom would rather see KT week in and week out than Zinchenko.

Although Arsenal’s record without the Ukrainian was fine earlier in the season, missing both him and Saliba has been a nightmare, and Tierney hasn’t really made the most of his chances lately. Some may blame lack of regular time for his faults at Liverpool and West Ham, and maybe they’d be right, but even against Brighton and Nottingham Forest, I thought he really failed to stand out at all.

Tierney would be amazing depth to have - if he wanted to be that. It sure seems like he doesn’t, and while he makes a good crunch time defensive substitution for Zinchenko, it seems even that’s not good enough.

I’ve already predicted on Twitter that this number is likely to upset some people, with some saying Tierney is a £40-50m player, particularly if he goes to Newcastle.

While he’s 25 and has years ahead of him, there’s just no way around him not being part of Arsenal’s plans and not wanting to stay. Those are two major setbacks for Arsenal’s leverage.

Consider his wage (£120k) and his service to the club, and I think this comes in more around what Arsenal paid in 2019, which is still a historically good number for a left back.

Adam’s verdict: Sell for £28.5 million.

Scott: I have been called a hater of Tierney and I think that is harsh because I appreciate the player but it also has a kernel of truth to it. I have been trying to get Arsenal to move on from him now for over a year now and it looks like it is going to happen.

My main argument was his injury history previously but also that he was just good, and not elite. We saw this year what happens when you bring in an elite player and it has been transformational for Arsenal.

I might even be being generous calling him good based on his actual production. Last year as a starter his numbers were just average to above average.

There just doesn’t seem to be a spot for Tierney in the team going forward. He looks like a square peg in a round hole trying to do Zincheko things. I don’t think there is a player in the team where how the manager views him diverges more than how the fanbase rates him, hopefully, there is a buyer out there with similar ratings to our fans.

He has been a good player and professional and we will always appreciate the time that he spent here. It is probably best for the club and the player for him to move on.

I would love to see Arsenal get a healthy fee for him but I would be willing to take 25m and move focus to other summer priorities. If there are multiple bidders from the Premier League it is possible this could get into a higher range.

Scott’s verdict: Sell for £25 million.