Former Manchester City defender Micah Richards has spoken about Scottish international Kieran Tierney and the impact he could have at Arsenal.
The left back who signed from Celtic in the summer of 2019 has found himself out of favour ever since the arrival of Alex Zinchenko. With manager Mikel Arteta preferring a different style of play, it has seen the defender having to think about his future at the club. That resulted in him spending the 2023/24 season on loan in Spain at Real Sociedad.
While speaking on the Match of the Day Top 10 Podcast, Richards along with his co-host Gary Lineker were talking about Tierney and the Gunners. The former Spurs forward had this to say:
“Let’s talk about Tierney, he’s gone out of the picture at Arsenal, why do you think that was?”
The man affectionately known as ‘Big Meeks’ had this to say in response:
“I don’t know why it is to be honest. Arsenal need a left-back this season though”
Arsenal Fever View:
It has to be said that a lot of the plans that the north Londoners had was dependent on the availability of new signing Jurrien Timber. While it looked like the former Ajax man would fit in like in a glove, he got badly injured in just his second game.
That meant that Arteta had to find a different solution and Tierney was not there to help the manager out. Through a combination of Zinchenko and Takehiro Tomiyasu, the boss was able to rotate his players and there were even games where Jakub Kiwior played there.
One of the reasons why the former Celtic star is not a part of the plans at the Emirates is due to the way he plays. The Scot likes to play like a traditional full back that likes to bomb forward and overlap the winger. But this is not what Mikel wants from his team as he often has the full back invert to give another option in midfield.
It is a little premature to say Tierney’s time in London is done as the defender could still have a role to play. It all depends on how much the Scotsman is willing to adapt and how much the manager is willing to be flexible. There could still be some kind of future for the left back in the red and white of the Gunners.
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