Kieran Tierney made his first appearance for Arsenal since May 2023 in the Carabao Cup win over Crystal Palace. However, the defender's time at the Emirates seems to be coming to an end. The Gunners will listen to offers for Tierney in January as their contracts expire.
Tierney will certainly have many options even if he does not play for Arsenal. The left-back has been plagued by injuries, but at 27, he still has plenty of time to contribute. In fact, in the match against Palace, Tierney showed his worth in some ways.
Tierney joined the Emirates for £25 million from Celtic, a few months before Mikel Arteta replaced Unai Emery as Arsenal manager in 2019. For a while, the Scottish defender was Arsenal's best player. Tierney was a key part of the Gunners' FA Cup-winning squad in 2020. Tierney has even been seen as a potential Gunners captain.
However, looking back at Arteta's 5 years at the Emirates, Arsenal have clearly developed in many aspects. Arsenal are very different to five years ago, both in terms of personnel and style of play. Tierney's qualities became redundant when versatile defender Oleksandr Zinchenko appeared in 2022.
Zinchenko, like Tierney, could soon be seen as another casualty of evolution at the Emirates. Arteta's favorite left-back is Riccardo Calafiori, a player with physical strengths as well as technical qualities.
Therefore, the day Tierney leaves the Emirates is probably not far away. Tierney is not necessarily the longest-serving player in the current Arsenal squad. That is Bukayo Saka. But while Saka is leading a new era at the Emirates, Tierney is the final link in the old one.
When asked if Tierney will leave Arsenal in January, Arteta said: "He hasn't come to me to talk about leaving. If there was any problem, he would come see me and say I think its time for me to leave. But that hasn't happened yet."
Tierney has made a total of 125 appearances for Arsenal to date. During that time, the 27-year-old has scored five goals and provided 13 assists for the Gunners.
