There is speculation that there will be a significant difference between the squad Arteta completed the season with and the one he will begin next season with. A number of high-profile stars are expected to join Arteta’s project, but when they do, several of our present stars are expected to leave.
Kieran Tierney is one of the top players rumoured to be leaving Arsenal. The Scottish international has been forced to play second fiddle to Oleksander Zinchenko, who has made the left-back position his own.
Some Gooners may still hope Tierney will stay and compete for a spot in Arteta’s starting XI, but David Hill in conversation with Kevin Campbell on the Highbury Squad Podcast claims Tierney understands leaving Arsenal is the only way he will be able to smile again. He implies that the 25-year-old had every opportunity to have a better 2022–23 season but did not put in the effort, implying that the left back may have simply given up and would be better suited to join a club I believe to be Newcastle.
Hill said: “We were talking about disappointments, and I will say there were a couple of players who had the potential to do a lot better this season who didn’t. I will say Kieran Tierney, he could’ve worked harder at being happy; he could’ve given a bit more.
“Tierney’s situation is nothing to do with playing a different way or adapting his game. I’m telling you, the boy is not happy; you can tell a mile off. He wants to be with his family. I truly believe I can see it in Tierney’s face, he loves Arsenal, but his heart is somewhere else. There’s a club up there who have just gotten into the Champions League who aren’t far away from where his family is. It’s about happy players.”
Many Gooners are already comfortable with Tierney’s leaving, but the question is, “Who is signed to replace him?” Ferland Mendy of Real Madrid has been linked, but what if the Real Madrid raid falls through?
Could Jakub Kiwior, like Ben White, be transformed to play at left back at times, as he has in Arsenal’s last two games?
Video – Alfie and Rob are back for the summer transfer window
Here is their first analysis of the summer, where Alfie and Rob discuss and predict every single possible Arsenal incoming and outgoing this summer, including fees and potential destinations for outgoings.
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