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Published January 31, 2025 10:37am Updated January 31, 2025 10:37am
Arsenal have blocked Kieran Tierney from making a January move to Celtic.
The Scotland international has entered the final six months of his contract at the Emirates and is expected to rejoin the Bhoys this summer after six years in north London.
Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers had hoped to bring forward a deal to this month with Tierney not part of Mikel Arteta’s regular starting XI.
‘I think we’re agreed that it will definitely take place in the summer. If we can do it beforehand, then great,’ Rodgers said this week.
‘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. 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.’
While Tierney has agreed a pre-contract to return to Parkhead on a four-year deal in the summer, Arsenal will not allow him to make the move ahead of schedule.
The Daily Telegraph reports the Gunners have made it clear Tierney will remain part of the squad that is looking to close the gap on Liverpool at the summit of the Premier League.
Arsenal will also hope to have a busy European schedule for the rest of the season having reached the knockout stages of the Champions League.
Tierney missed the first four months of the season as a result of a hamstring injury suffered while playing for Scotland at Euro 2024. Summer signing Riccardo Calafiori has regularly slotted in at left-back with teenage star Myles Lewis-Skelly also forcing his way into the side.
Oleksandr Zinchenko is another option at left-back, although the Ukraine international is another who has been strongly linked with a January move away.
Tierney has managed just 16 minutes of Premier League football since returning to fitness with his sole start this season coming in the Carabao Cup quarter-final victory over Crystal Palace in December.
Tierney won four Scottish titles with Celtic before leaving to join Arsenal in a £25m deal in 2019. With Zinchenko’s arrival limiting starting opportunities, Tierney joined Real Sociedad on a season-long loan deal in August 2023.
Everton, Sevilla and Bayer Leverkusen were among the clubs interested in signing the Scot on a free transfer at the end of the season but a return to Celtic awaits.
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