Arsenal ace being forced to stay by Arteta despite agreement to move



Mikel Arteta has stopped one Arsenal star from leaving the club despite the fact that the Gunners and the player have agreed he can move on.

It’s certainly a busy time for the North Londoners, with just a few days to go until the end of the January transfer window.

Mikel Arteta won’t allow Kieran Tierney to leave in January

Atletico Madrid are close to securing Oleksandr Zinchenko, whilst Arsenal want Mathys Tel from Bayern Munich, though they’ll almost certainly face stiff competition for the talented teenager.

Kieran Tierney and of Arsenal makes his way out for the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Phase MD6 training session at Sobha Realty Training Centre on December 10, 2024 in London Colney, England. (Photo by Harry Murphy/Getty Images)

It’s almost certainly with Zinchenko’s potential move to the Spanish top-flight giants in mind that Arteta wants to keep hold of Kieran Tierney until the summer.

As The Telegraph (subscription required) report, Tierney has already agreed a four-year deal with Celtic, but it was expected that he would move to the Scottish giants this month on a short-term loan, ahead of the permanent switch.

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Clearly, Arteta’s belief is that Arsenal can catch Liverpool at the top of the Premier League table, and to that end is playing hard ball as far as Tierney’s exit is concerned.

Zinchenko switch key to Arteta’s handling of Tierney situation

The Gunners have had issues with injuries to key players of late, and were the likes of Myles Lewis-Skelly and Riccardo Calafiori also succumb to the same, it would leave Arteta light down the left side.


 

Tierney hasn’t really been able to carve out a run of games for Arsenal this season – transfermarkt note that he’s only played 108 minutes in all competitions in 24/25 – and if that status quo remains, he’s bound to be disappointed at having been made to stay.

On the flip side, as long as he keeps himself fit, he will be as good as new when he arrives at his new club, and he could yet have a part to play in Arsenal’s title challenge.