Top Arsenal source reveals hardball Edu stance over Newcastle linked star as Gunners refuse to buckle over bargain fee

Arsenal are refusing to allow Kieran Tierney to walk away from the club for a bargain fee this summer, according to club insider Charles Watts.

The Scotland international has been tipped for a switch all summer , with Newcastle among those linked with his signature, after finding his first-team opportunities limited by the arrival of Oleksandr Zinchenko from Manchester City.

Tierney actually made 36 appearances in all competitions last term, scoring once, but only nine of those outings came in the starting XI.

That sparked rumours that the player was looking for an exit, with Eddie Howe looking for a new left-back to bolster his starting line-up after Newcastle’s qualification for the Champions League.

A fee of between £25-30million is being mooted for the 26-year-old, but Watts has revealed to us that Arsenal, and sporting director Edu, are determined not to let him leave on the cheap.

He said: “They’re not going to give him away. If they don’t get an offer that they think is suitable, then they’re not going to push him out of the door.

“He’s a very good player and he could be very important to Arsenal but the team has evolved under Arteta without him.

“You know, the whole move to the inverted full-back type system that Arteta plays, certainly on the left-hand side with Zinchenko, that’s just not in his game.

“He’s a very good full-back who I think would walk into most Premier League teams and improve them. But the way Arsenal play, he’s just not suited to that system.

“And he tries to do it when he’s come on and played and has been used instead of Zinchenko. But you can see he’s just not comfortable moving into that central area, he wants to get on the overlap, the classic British fullback.

“When Tierney plays, you really notice that the whole balance of the team that we’re used to seeing is just not there, because he’s not creating the overload in midfield. And when he does do that, he struggles. He’s not as good on the ball as Zinchenko in tight areas.”

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Arsenal have evolved without Tierney 

While Tierney remains an excellent player, Watts feels that Mikel Arteta’s team has developed differently without him being in the side – which is tough on the Scotland international.

He added: “The team has evolved without Tierney. It feels harsh on him, because he’s such a good player and he’s been so popular. He’s been one of Arsenal’s key players, but it just feels like the team’s moving away from the way he plays.

“We’re at the start of summer, I fully expected Tierney to go. At the moment, the interest that I was expecting hasn’t really firmed up yet. Newcastle were definitely looking at him but at the moment, they haven’t pressed the button. It appears they might be looking at other potential targets in that role.

“There is talk of a romantic return to Celtic, but he’d have to take a big wage cut for that to be possible. Whether Celtic, even with the money that they’ve brought in from Saudi Arabia for Jota, could afford Tierney and put the sort of money on the table that Arsenal would be willing to accept for a player of his age, of his quality, who’s still got a long-term contract, I don’t know.

“He’s definitely a player who could go, who they wouldn’t stand in the way of going. And they know they can make good money on him but they won’t actively shove him out the door.

“I thought he was very good on Thursday night in the second half of the friendly [against Nurnburg]. It was a very disjointed performance when Arsenal made all the substitutions but the one player who really stood out for me was Tierney, I thought he was excellent at times.

“If he stays, he will be important to Arsenal. But he’s certainly one that you look at thinking if they’re going to make good money, which they need to this summer, he is right at the top of the list of potential high-profile sales.”

The Gunners are back in pre-season action on Thursday when they take on the MLS All-Stars on their US tour.

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