Kieran Tierney’s impending return to Celtic has earned the approval of Scotland boss Steve Clarke, who says the defender’s happiness is the most important thing as he prepares for international duty.
Scotland are in action tonight against Iceland.
Tierney is set to rejoin his boyhood club this summer after agreeing a pre-contract move from Arsenal, five years on from his £25 million switch to the Premier League. While Celtic have yet to make a formal announcement via their social media channels, the deal was confirmed in the club’s interim financial statement to shareholders.
Speaking ahead of Scotland’s friendly against Iceland at Hampden, Clarke welcomed the move: [RecordSport]
“Kieran’s happy to be coming back up to Scotland to play. If Kieran’s happy, then I’m happy.
“More recently, it’s been the injury situation with Kieran. The one last summer stopped him having more game time.
“The six months before that, he’d been in Spain with Sociedad and done really well and it was good at Arsenal that he stayed and ended up the way it ended up, by getting back in the team, getting regular minutes off the bench.”
Arsenal have already bid farewell to the 28-year-old, whose relationship with Mikel Arteta never quite clicked despite his strong rapport with the Gunners support.
Back at Celtic, Tierney will look to rediscover the form that made him a standout during his first spell in Glasgow, and Clarke will be watching closely with a view to getting his key defender back to full sharpness ahead of the Euros next summer.
Who will deputise KT reamins to be seen. Greg Taylor looks like he could be away this summer with PAOK confident of securing the full-back on a free contract.
