It wasn’t too long ago that Kieran Tierney was being touted as Arsenal ’s next permanent captain.
Signed from Celtic in August 2019, the Scotland international quickly established himself as an integral part of the furniture at The Emirates. And despite Unai Emery being replaced by Mikel Arteta in the dugout, the versatile full-back continued to be selected whenever he was available.
The Spaniard then suggested that Tierny had the credentials to take the armband, when the decision to name their next skipper came up: “He is shy and so humble. He came here and it took him a while. He had a really bad injury and was away from home but he is a natural leader.
“You see how he behaves on the pitch and when he talks he says the right thing. And he is exactly what we are looking for and I am so happy to have him in the team.”
However, as the Gunners continue to progress under the guidance of Arteta, Tierney has become a player at risk of being left behind. The arrival of Oleksandr Zinchenko meant that the 25-year-old was guaranteed to have some extra competition for a starting berth.
After all, the Ukrainian had experience working with Arteta and was able to seamlessly provide the kind of inverted full-back the manager was looking for. Tierney started the season on the bench behind the signing from Manchester City, but looked primed for an opportunity when Zinchenko was injured.
That didn’t materialise though with Arteta instead turning to Takehiro Tomiyasu. Firstly for the win over Liverpool, with Tierney left fuming at his omission, before keeping his place in the subsequent weeks.
It leaves Tierney desperate for opportunities to impress his manager and force his way back into the team. And he does so with the glowing endorsement of arguably the greatest coach of all time - Sir Alex Ferguson.
Ferguson was asked about his national team, Scotland, during a Lockdown Theatre Live show and singled out the Arsenal ace as well as Liverpool left-back Andrew Robertson.
“I do think Scotland have some very good midfield players, and I’m not sure how they’re gonna play Robertson and Tierney in the same team,” he explained.
"I know there were some situations where they played Tierney as the third centre-back, but the form of Tierney since he’s gone to Arsenal has been phenomenal.”
That ‘phenomenal’ tag may not be as applicable lately, with his performances failing to convince Arteta he is worthy of starting in the Premier League. Tierney has remained a regular in the Europa League, but spoke of his anger after performing well in Europe, only to miss the crucial domestic clash with Liverpool.
"I was thinking that I got taken off in the Thursday game maybe to keep me ready for the Sunday - and maybe that at the time was his plan as well,” he said last month.
"Then, the day before the match, he said 'it's not your performance, this is just a tactical change that I want to make.'
"I was like 'I'm gutted. I'm not going to be angry, I'm not going to not try hard, but I'm gutted because I want to play every opportunity I can. Especially the big games you want to play and you want to soak up the atmosphere."
