Arteta admits Arsenal 27yo previously asked to leave | OneFootball

Kieran Tierney has previously asked to leave Arsenal, according to Mikel Arteta, but he hasn’t yet made the same request ahead of the January transfer window.

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Kieran Tierney made his return to the Arsenal starting lineup on Wednesday, playing 69 minutes of the team’s 3-2 League Cup win over Crystal Palace.

It was Tierney’s first game in six months, though the majority of that absence was due to injury. The left-back did return to the squad six games earlier though, and perhaps if he had a bigger role in the team he would have been involved sooner.

Tierney’s status as a fringe player was underlined after the game, as news broke that Arsenal had opted not to trigger the one-year extension in his contract. As it stands, he’ll become a free agent in June 2025.

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There’s even talk that the two parties might part ways sooner than that, with those reports suggesting Arsenal would consider a January sale.

Mikel Arteta insisted on Friday that Tierney hasn’t asked to leave in January, but suggested the defender had asked for a move in the past.

“He hasn’t come to me and said ‘I want to move’,” Arteta began. “In the past, if we have any doubts he came to me and said ‘I think it’s my time to move’, and this hasn’t been the case yet.

“At the moment he’s here with us. I wouldn’t play a player that is thinking about leaving or is not committed to us, so he’s fully committed.”

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Reports suggest Tierney’s former club Celtic are ready to compete with Premier League sides for the player’s signature in 2025.

Non-English clubs can agree a pre-contract agreement jn January for a free transfer in the summer, but the Premier League sides have to wait until May to do the same.

With Tierney now back fit, a January move can’t be ruled out. It’s presumably what both Tierney and Arsenal would prefer, allowing him to play, getting the Gunners a fee, and saving them some money in wages.