Kieran Tierney was one of the many talking points surrounding Arsenal and the January transfer window, as a move to Celtic appeared to be on the cards.
The left-back is into the final months of his contract, with the Gunners passing up the opportunity to extend it for a further year through a clause in his deal.
It meant that, as of January, Tierney could agree a pre-contract move with clubs outside of England if he so wished.
One of those showing interest was his former club Celtic, who were heavily rumoured with a move for the Scotland international.
Brendan Rodgers went on to claim a deal for Tierney had been agreed, seemingly sealing a move for the summer at the latest.
Celtic pushed to land the star from Arsenal over January, but that never came to fruition.
Why Kieran Tierney didn’t join Celtic amid Arsenal exit transfer
It seemed a real possibility that Tierney would join Celtic over January, but it never ended up panning out that way.
Instead, the defender is set to stay until the end of the season at the Emirates Stadium with Arsenal.
Arsenal Insider spoke to TBR Football’s transfer expert Graeme Bailey to reveal exactly why the move didn’t go through.
He revealed that the gap between a deal happening and not was down to valuation, with Celtic refusing to pay for a move, while Arsenal didn’t want to allow for a free transfer in January.
Tierney didn’t agitate for a move, with him and the club happy to allow for a switch to take place over the summer if it didn’t happen over the winter.
With plenty of games left to go, there could be some scenarios where the defender is needed now for the rest of the season.
Arsenal could use Kieran Tierney in forward role
With injuries in the forward line, Tierney could still be of some use to the Arsenal side in the wide role.
The left-back has plenty of competition for a place in the backline but the attacking ranks are looking particularly light.
Should the injury crisis worsen, then Mikel Arteta can opt to use Tierney’s attacking width as his strength moving forward.
It’s an idea the manager has toyed with a couple of times, bringing the defender on in such a position late on in a few games.
That may need to happen again, not least if the injury situation continues to worsen.
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