Newcastle United and Kieran Tierney appear to be on a collision course, with the Arsenal defender heavily linked with a move to Tyneside.
Eddie Howe is hoping to add a new left-back to his Newcastle squad this summer, and one name sticks out among all the players that are being rumoured.
Talk of Renan Lodi or Mitchel Bakker pales in comparison to the prospect of Tierney heading to St James’ Park.
The 25-year-old has been on the Magpies’ radar for a while now, and speculation intensified this week when it was reported that he is expected to sign for Newcastle this summer.
Now Arsenal expert and London World reporter Chris Wheatley has offered some more insight into Newcastle’s pursuit of the Scot.
Newcastle will ‘push hard’ to sign Kieran Tierney
According to Wheatley on Twitter, Tierney is Howe’s top left-back target, describing him as a ‘priority signing’. He adds that the Magpies are going to push hard to bring him to the North East ahead of next season.
He wrote: “Kieran Tierney is priority signing at left back for Eddie Howe this summer. Howe a big admirer of Tierney and tried to sign him when he was at Bournemouth. #NUFC will push hard to make it happen.”
Tierney criticised for his latest Arsenal performance
The reason there is talk of Tierney leaving Arsenal is because he is no longer a guaranteed starter at the Emirates. He lost his place in Mikel Arteta’s side to Oleksandr Zinchenko, who arrived from Manchester City last summer.
That has forced the former Celtic star to sit on the bench and ponder his future, with Newcastle seemingly in pole position to rescue him form obscurity.
However, he is actually now back in the Arsenal starting XI – and will likely remain there for the rest of the season. That is because Zinchenko is out of action due to a calf injury.
Due to Zinchenko’s absence, Tierney started the Gunners’ last game, which was the 3-0 defeat to Brighton that all but ended their Premier League title hopes.
The Scotland international received criticism from Roy Keane after the game, who said that Tierney was guilty of ‘really poor defending’ for Brighton’s opening goal of the game.
It wasn’t great from Tierney, who was perhaps suffering from a lack of sharpness due to his limited minutes.
He will need to be more resolute if he does make the move to St James’ Park, where he would compete with Dan Burn and Matt Targett for a place in the starting XI.
Howe appears desperate for that to happen, so let’s hope the Toon recruitment team give him what he wants.
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