Celtic have been handed a blow in their transfer pursuit of Arsenal left-back Kieran Tierney this winter.Celtic have been handed a blow in their attempt to bring back Kieran Tierney in the January window on a loan deal from Arsenal even though a pre-contract agreement for the summer is believed to be in place already.
According to The Telegraph, Tierney will stay at Arsenal for the final six months of his contract. They have made it clear that he is staying in Mikel Arteta’s squad for the rest of the seasonGiven Arsenal remain in the Premier League title race, only six points behind Liverpool for the title, and on top of that have the knockout stages of the Champions League upcoming, keeping Tierney makes all the sense in the world.
With Tierney beginning to be more active at Arsenal again recently, and part of the matchday squad more often than not in recent weeks, they will look to keep him until a suitable replacement can be found.
In the meantime, that leaves Celtic in a tough spot, as they also have the remainder of the SPFL season at hand, and the knockout phase play-off upcoming as well, with a matchup of either Real Madrid or Bayern Munich. Additions to the squad most definitely need to be made, and adding to the left-back ranks is a must before deadline day, which rapidly approaches.With Alex Valle’s loan cut short and his move to Serie A club Como agreed upon, it leaves the question of who Celtic could add during the window to fulfill that need. In the worst-case scenario, Liam Scales could serve as the backup until the summer, but that would be running the defense extremely thin in the case of an injury.
Finding a short-term alternative to have in the room would be the preferred outcome, as Celtic also looks to potentially add a striker this window among their moves already made. Ultimately it will come down to whether or not they have enough time to find a viable addition and get a deal completed in the span of time they have lef
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