Kieran Tierney's time at Arsenal could be coming to an end this summer amid strong transfer interest from Newcastle. The Scotland international has seen his minutes significantly reduced following the arrival of Oleksandr Zinchenko from Manchester City ahead of the 2022/23 season.
For the system Mikel Arteta wishes to deploy at the Gunenrs, Zinchenko is arguably the most crucial player to it being successful. As is rather well-known now, the Ukraine international plays an inverted role to essentially form a deep-lying midfield two with Thomas Partey.
That plan allows space for Granit Xhaka and Martin Odegaard to terrorise opposition teams. During the first few months of the season, Gabriel Jesus also benefited from Zinchenko's usual position being more central as it allowed him to drop into a deeper role coming in from the left that in turn creates great attacking moments for Gabriel Martinelli.
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In short, Zinchenko's versatility is key for Arsenal. Arteta has likely tried to help Tierney learn that role but the former Celtic man has been limited to cameos and Europa League minutes. Even when Zinchenko missed a month with a calf injury, Takehiro Tomiyasu was preferred to Tierney.
Understandably, given the factors at play, Tierney seems rather unhappy with his game time having played just 63 minutes of Premier League action since the turn of the year. Talk of Newcastle trying to sign him ramped up, but Arteta admitted he continues to be a consummate professional.
"Very good because we talked and we discussed the situation and we had a very similar opinion about that", the Gunners boss told football.london when asked how the talented left-back has reacted to being left out for such a long period of time.
"He knows his role – under me he’s played a lot, more than any other player probably compared to the previous players at the club in the last three years and he understands the situation and he needs to challenge the situation."
The Gunners are unlikely to want to sell Tierney to a Premier League rival having been the beneficiaries of Manchester City's decision to do so. Allowing him to leave would also leave Arsenal light in that position, but Arteta may have identified his replacement with a player already at the club.
Jakub Kiwior signed for Arsenal from Spezia in the January transfer window as a left-footed centre back that also could play in midfield. The 23-year-old's versatility likely made him a desired target of Arteta given Zinchenko and Ben White's ability to play multiple positions.
Playing for the Poland national team it now looks as though Kiwior has added another role to his repertoire. For his country's Euro qualifier against Albania, Kiwior was deployed on the left of a back four and his performance caused a slight stir among the Polish media.
Sport Wprost handed Kiwior a five out of 10 for his display noting that "he did well with the basics" while Meczyki gave the defender the same rating, but labelled his performance as "nervous".
Regardless of the contrasting verdicts, Kiwior clearly showed to Poland coach Fernando Santos that he can play as a left-back. Arteta will likely have been made aware of this and could therefore hand Tierney the green light to leave the club knowing he has another backup option.
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