Kieran Tierney has opened up about his move to Arsenal.
Arsenal left-back Kieran Tierney has opened up about how difficult it was for him at times as he got closer to completing his transfer to the club last summer.
The Scotland international joined us from Celtic after impressing as one of the most promising young players in the country.
Sadly, injuries have hampered Tierney’s first season at the Emirates Stadium, but he still looks a top talent and a good long-term option for us once he recovers his fitness and gets more of a run in the team.
It’s also clear just how much this move meant to him, with Tierney opening up now about how an offer from one of the world’s biggest clubs gave him sleepless nights.
“I had sleepless nights. It was a hard decision,” the 22-year-old said, as quoted by the Metro.
“I knew how big Arsenal were. They are a massive club in a massive league. I’m coming down here and I’m playing in training against [Nicolas] Pepe, [Mesut] Ozil, [Alexandre] Lacazette and [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang every day. You’re playing against the world’s best players.
“It was obviously a great offer, but I still had sleepless nights thinking ‘what’s the best thing to do here?’. It went on for ages.
“The first bid came in and I then signed on deadline day. At the same time, I was just coming back from my injury. I was like, ‘Don’t even focus on what’s going to happen, just work hard and get fit, everything happens for a reason’. Arsenal are a massive, massive club and when I came I realised that.”
AFC fans will now just hope Tierney can have a bit more luck and show himself as being worthy of playing alongside these other big names at the club.
A wise head on young shoulders it seems.
Love the way he regards The Arsenal, along with the players he works with day in and day out.
He will be a massive player for us for many seasons to come and this enforced lay off will have given him time to have completely recovered from his injury problems.