Brendan Rodgers CONFIRMS Arsenal star Kieran Tierney will join Celtic this summer – but still hopes to bring him back to the Scottish giants this month

Kieran Tierney’s time with Arsenal will ‘definitely’ end in the summer – though Brendan Rogers has suggested Celtic could look to bring the Scot to the club this month instead. 

The 27-year-old Scotland international is out of contract at Arsenal this summer, but has been in talks with his former club over a free transfer.

But, with loanee Alex Valle back at parent club Barcelona, Rodgers would like the left back to return north of the border before next week’s transfer deadline to bolster his defence. 

‘He’s still, at this moment, an Arsenal player,’ the former Liverpool and Leicester boss said ahead of Celtic’s final Champions League league phase game at Aston Villa.

‘I think we’re agreed that it will definitely take place in the summer. If we can do it beforehand, then great.

‘I think that, like I said, we prepared that for the summer. I don’t want to speak too much on it with the greatest respect, because he’s not a Celtic player here now with us.

The Celtic boss hinted he would be keen to bring the left back north of the border this month

Tierney was a key star in the early days of Mikel Arteta’s reign but has slipped down the ranks

‘But if we were able to do it, of course, we would like to do that, but that’s out of our control at this moment in time.’

Having been one of the first names on the teamsheet in the early days of Mikel Arteta’s tenure at the Emirates Stadium, Tierney has gradually fallen down the pecking order in recent seasons. 

The arrival of Oleksandr Zinchenko saw him ousted from the starting XI for the first time in earnest since joining the Gunners, before venturing out on loan to Real Sociedad. 

The ensuing signings of Jurrien Timber, Riccardo Calafiori, Jakub Kiwior and the emergence of Myles Lewis-Skelly then saw him relegated to the effective fifth-choice in his position. 

Yet Tierney has amassed 129 games in his time in north London, and is one of the longest-serving players left in the dressing-room.