Kieran Tierney insists he left Arsenal to join Real Sociedad on loan because he wants regular game time.
The Scotland star was made surplus to requirements at the Emirates after Arsenal secured the signature of several new defenders who can play as a left-back.
He had lost his place in the Gunners team to Oleksandr Zinchenko last term and did not want to spend another season on the bench at the Emirates.
Tierney was one of the best left-backs in the Premier League previous to last season and some fans were baffled why Arsenal signed a new player.
Some reports suggested he may have fallen out with Mikel Arteta. However, the defender has now revealed why he left.
He said, as quoted by 90 Mins:
“I left because last season I couldn’t play a lot and what I wanted was to play a lot of games and I wanted to try to do it at Real.
“I don’t have any problem with Arsenal.
“Knowing that Real wanted to have me here, feeling all the love from the people here was very good. Being in the Basque Country, having the experience of living here and playing in La Liga, is something I am very proud of. I hope things will go very well for me here.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
Tierney is a superb professional and has done well to diffuse the situation and ensure people know the truth.
We wish him the best at Sociedad and he could have a second chance as an Arsenal player if he performs well in Spain.
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I confidently predictb that while MA remains as our manager- which will IMO be for many years to come- that Tierney will never play for as again , except just possibly, in dire injury crisis, while back here temporarily after his loan , while waiting to be sold on.
Its been obvious for ages , at least to those who can see further than their nose- that Tierney is simply not rated at all by MA, as the sort of player he needs in our team.
Its not personal, but simply that his style is now considered passe for how our tactics are evolving.
It’s clear that arteta doesn’t rate Tierney for this team, but i do still have some level of hope that he will come around. For one, Tierney embodies the humility arteta has said he wants to see in his players, and I don’t believe for a second arteta sees him as a poor player, I imagine he just sees his playing style as too simplistic for the kinds of systems we use.
If Tierney can stay fit, nail down a position, and show himself to be capable of doing well, including displaying the kind of adaptability MA clearly is looking for while on loan this season, I do believe MA would want to bring him back into the fold. I can only hope that KT is aware of what MA wants to see from him; I’d be shocked if he hadn’t been told in the past the reasons for his lack of match time, but who knows – maybe he didn’t ask.
While MA clearly does have a view on Tierney, any manager should be adaptable in their own thinking when contrary evidence is presented. I do think MA is the kind of person who would be delighted to be “proven wrong” in this way, particularly by a humble person such as Tierney.
Conversely, if the tactics deployed by Arteta are not successful and we do not finish in the top four, questions will be asked as to the wisdom of the non conventional line up favoured by our Manager.
YES Grandad and in your world of “ifs” which you use, many things would be different.
But in the land of REALITY,which I FAR PREFER, where it is as plain as the nose on your face that both Kroenkes are fully committed to MA being here for long into the future – as their large financial backing shows to we realists – it would be inconceivable that we are NOT in the top four this season and that MA will be here for a great deal longer than many, including you, it seems, can imagine.
I hope he is at Arsenal for the long term but I do not feel it’s inconceivable that we will finish outwith the top four as many of our rivals have strengthened their squads this season particularly Liverpool.
WAHT A VERY BRITISH USE OF LANGUAGE , GRANDAD . A double negative ,instead of saying clearly EXACTLY WHAT YOU THINK.
Kiwior has showed multiple times tha he is a good back up and competitor for Zinchenko so let him do it. If Tierney is not convinced for Arteta for his so called inverted defender then Arteta should’ve made Tierney a competitor for Gabriel and rotate them for left sided central defender position. Saliba and White should be rotated right side central defender position and Tomiyasu and Timber for right back.
By implementing this way Arteta can produce a healthy competition and rotation for each defensive position and keep the entire squad with a reasonable amount of game time and injury free.
Tierney for me all day long I’d have h before zinchenko.
It seems that the top four finish has now become the yardstick that MA is to be measured by.
That’s strange, as it was deemed not good enough before… before we spent over £500,000,000 on new players, but hey ho, I’ll be happy if that’s the benchmark to measure him by.
Interesting to read Tierney’s take on the situation, as he bears no grudges and just wants to play football.
He’s such a professional person and I really hope he succeeds and comes back to our club having proven his worth.
Not while Arteta is manager ken.
Ken, I think the yardstick of top 4 is OK as long as that is not the goal – the goal should be winning the title.
Under wenger, at some point we were told that top 4 was success in itself (like a trophy), making it seem as though winning the title was simply unrealistic, which had a terrible psychological effect on many of the players imo. I think arteta would see fourth as a failure; many fans would agree, and many would see it as the bare minimum – only winning the title would truly be success. It’s a different mentality.