Rumours that Arsenal are prepared to sell Kieran Tierney to Leicester City left most Arsenal supporters dumbfounded and confused. Why would the North London club spend £25m on a highly rated left back only to sell him on for the same amount ?
Mikel Arteta hasn’t even had a chance to assess the player due to a string of injuries and only just recently, the Arsenal coach was praising the player. Could it be that there was a plan behind Arsenal’s acquisition of Tierney all along. Former Celtic manager Brendan Rogers, was apparently keen to buy the player but because of his sudden and acrimonious departure from The Hoops to Leicester, the prospect of a deal would always have been unlikely.
In the meantime Arsenal are said to have contacted Leicester about the possibility of buying James Maddison. It was probably an inquiry which Rogers rebuffed immediately. However, Could a deal take place between the two clubs regarding the each other’s assets ? That’s a fanciful motion isn’t it ? Well perhaps not.
The next part is a leap of faith but seeing that we are speculating about Arsenal’s left back, we could surmise that Kieran Tierney could be used as part of a deal or swap in the summer. Arsenal have dabbled in complicated deals in the past and the swap with Clive Allen and Kenny Sansom was like something from a Len Deighton novel.
Arsenal were rebuilding and they added the potential firepower of Clive Allen then at QPR (1980). At the same time, there were rumours that Terry Venables, manager of Crystal Palace was also interested.
Allen himself suggested that QPR chairman Jim Gregory refused to sell him to former employee Venables, who was in charge of Palace. ‘El Tel’ as he went on to be known due to his spell at the Nou Camp, had a history of fractured relationships with club owners.
There was a similar suggestion that Palace had agreed to sell Kenny Sansom to the North London club if they were prepared to secure the player that Venables wanted (Allen). The striker had not played a competitive game in his brief 62 days stay at Arsenal and was promptly shipped out because according to the Gunners manager, Terry Neil, his forward partnership:
“Didn’t look right”
He added:
“We had to make a judgement in the best interests of the club.”
That all sounds a bit woolly if I’m honest but if there is any truth in the Leicester interest, it could be a case of history repeating itself.
Arteta is now gaining options on the left and Kieran Tierney will have to fight hard to get back in the squad because of the form of Saka and the pending return of Kolasinac. Tierney’s departure is fairly unlikely under the circumstances because there is so much more to come from him.
Would Arteta even attempt to trade off with another club ? I doubt it very much but football throws up the odd surprise when you least expect it
