Martin Keown has warned Mikel Arteta that he could soon have a big problem on his hands with Kieran Tierney - a player he tipped as a "future Arsenal captain" less than 12 months ago.
Tierney has quickly become a fan-favourite at the Emirates Stadium after joining the Gunners from Celtic in a £25million deal back in 2019. But the Scottish full-back, who impressed in Thursday night's 3-0 win over FK Bodo/Glimt, has fallen behind new boy Oleksandr Zinchenko in the pecking order.
Although Zinchenko was tipped to feature in a midfield role after leaving Manchester City, the Ukrainian ace has made the left-back berth his own ahead of Tierney.
The Gunners were always likely to acquire another full-back in the summer given Tierney's chequered injury history. But Keown has been left with concerns. He has already questioned the relationship between the 25-year-old - who he views as a future club captain - and Arteta, who has used Tierney sparingly in the past after injury issues.
Speaking after Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had been stripped of the Arsenal captaincy last year, Keown told the Daily Mail: "Under [Arteta's] management, I believe Kieran Tierney has been the standout player who could fulfil that [captaincy] role. But Tierney's relationship seemed strained with his manager recently when he returned from injury and wasn't brought straight back into the team."
And now, almost one year on from those comments, Keown has spoken out again in the wake of Zinchenko's arrival. The presence of the four-time Premier League winner has restricted Tierney to just three of Arsenal's eight league fixtures this term - and the Gunners icon is adamant that Arteta will have to do more to appease the "high-calibre" defender.
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"I feel sorry for him," Keown admitted to BT Sport when discussing Tierney. "He's a high-calibre player and he comes on in every game. But obviously, you're not completely meeting his needs. It shows you the quality and strength of the squad when he's not starting. You want to have that competition and the level gets higher.
"Whether or not these players accept that going forward… I don't know. As long as they play like that when they come in, I think there's a future there for them."
Although Tierney deputised for Zinchenko, who missed training on the eve of the match against Bodo/Glimt, it remains to be seen if the latter will be reinstated for this weekend's crunch clash against Liverpool.
Arsenal have made a relentless start to the season in the Premier League and can open up a staggering 14-point lead over a team who were heavily tipped for the title with a win at the Emirates on Sunday.
