Newcastle United’s hunt for an attacking left-back could be over as the club are confident of landing Kieran Tierney from Arsenal.
According to The Sun, insiders at Newcastle are confident that they will land £30million Kieran Tierney from Arsenal in the summer after the Scotland international fell down the pecking order under Mikel Arteta.
This comes off the back of Stan Collymore saying he believes Kieran Tierney would help Newcastle cement their place among the Premier League elite.
Newcastle need a Trippier-type full-back on the left
Newcastle’s current left-back options, while good, aren’t great at getting forward and it’s strongly believed that Eddie Howe wants someone on the left who is capable of replicating what Kieran Trippier is doing on the right.
Trippier is the Premier League’s most creative right-back and if Newcastle had a similar option on the opposite flank they’d be twice as dangerous going forward. Bringing in the ‘superb‘ Tierney would be the perfect way to fill that role.
Dan Burn has been outstanding at left-back this season despite being a natural centre-back, but there’s a growing concern amongst the fanbase that he’s running out of steam as we near the business end of the season. Matt Targett is still waiting in the wings to step in, but Howe is reluctant to change up a settle defence.
Howe came to the defence of Burn recently, saying: “I’m surprised if Dan’s getting criticised because that’s a severe underestimation of what he brings to the team.
“He has been incredible. We didn’t plan the season with him at left-back — it happened through injuries and he got an opportunity.
“He’s a slightly unusual presence there but his attitude and application have been the highest level.
“Sometimes you can’t measure what he gives.
“We value Dan very highly in whatever position he plays and his versatility is important as well.”
Tierney’s arrival could spell the end of the line at Newcastle for one man
If you want to read that with your cynical glasses on it suggests that Matt Targett’s future could be under threat should Tierney come through the door. Although that would probably seem harsh as the former Aston Villa man only signed for Newcastle in the summer and has barely featured this season.
I think, given Burn’s versatility he could be seen as cover for centre-back and left-back whereas Targett would just be cover at LB. That suggests, to me, that there’d still be room for both in the squad even if Tierney came in and claimed that left-back spot.
Given Tierney’s injury record it would make sense to ensure we had plenty of cover too, so I wouldn’t expect Tierney’s arrival to affect Burn or Targett in terms of their squad place, just their team place. Jamal Lewis on the other hand, I think it’s curtains for him at Newcastle unfortunately. A youngster with plenty of potential, but it just didn’t work out.
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