Kieran Tierney has revealed that receiving a reaction similar to Brendan Rodgers when leaving boyhood club Celtic was something that gave him the fear.
The left-back is heading into his third year as an Arsenal player and he will hope the injury stints that have blighted an otherwise successful Gunners stint don't follow him into a term of optimism under Mikel Arteta. It was a tough decision for Tierney to pack up and leave a club he had grew up supporting but his 2019 transfer was one he felt was right.
Rodgers had been his manager before leaving for fellow Premier League club Leicester City that year, and received a hostile reaction from Celtic fans when the news broke, some fans still not forgiving him for his mid-term exit. It was that criticism - even after two trebles and seven trophies overall - that left Tierney fearful he would be disliked by the Parkhead faithful.
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He told the Daily Mail: "We'd seen the reaction that Brendan Rodgers had got when he left Celtic for Leicester, so it was kind of scary.
"But it's a very small minority. A lot of people messaged me saying: 'All the best, we’re so proud of you, go smash it.’
"I still look back and see those as my best days - to be playing for your boyhood club. I lived the dream."
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