Manchester City reportedly want Arsenal left-back Kieran Tierney to replace Oleksandr Zinchenko who switched sides with the Gunner this summer. The Ukrainian though a central midfielder, covered for City at the let-back position along with Joao Cancelo. Now that he left for Arsenal in a £31.5 million deal, City are looking to invest that money in acquiring Tierney.
City manager Pep Guardiola has demanded the club sign a left-back immediately after missing out on Brighton’s Marc Cucurella. The Seagulls remained firm on their price tag of £50 million, which City denied to pay and Chelsea eventually forked out a whopping £62 million to land the Spaniard. Guardiola now eyes Tierney who also boasts the experience of plying his trade in the English op flight.
Tierney could opt for more game-time at Manchester City
Arsenal signed Kieran Tierney from Scottish Premiership side Celtic bac in 2019 for a fee of around £25 million. The left-back went on to become a crucial part of the Gunners’ set up, owning to his sturdy physicality and robust attacking powers. He has so far made 88 appearances for Arsenal, scoring 4 goals and assisting 12.
However, long term injuries have hindered his progress at the Emirates forcing him to miss a significant 48 games over the last three seasons. His deputy Nuno Tavares too failed to deliver for the team, majorly due to his inability of settling in with the premier League.
Arsenal hence snapped up Zinchenko in order to resolve their left-back crisis, who has plenty of experience in the league even lifting the title four times with City. On the other hand, City who already had only the Ukrainian to cover the left-back position are left with no option than the makeshift Cancelo. The English champions are ready to take a gamble with Tierney as a result of losing Zinchenko to Arsenal.
While City have reportedly concluded a deal for Anderlecht’s 21-year-old left-back Sergio Gomez, Guardiola is holding on his demand of adding an experienced one such as Tierney. Meanwhile, the Scot could also be tempted by a move to the Etihad since he will now deputise for Zinchenko at Arsenal.
City believe in order to gain regular minutes, plus the chance of winning trophies and featuring in the Champions League, Tierney could well contemplate a move. However, Arsenal may play a hardball here since they won’t want to lose a solid option in Tierney to leave. Moreover, Zinchenko has been promised a more advanced role in the midfield by Mikel Arteta per multiple reports.
At such a stand-off, City have a little margin of landing the 25-year-old before the deadline day of September 1. Nonetheless, they have kept ready alternatives to Tierney if he doesn’t sign for them. Atletico Madrid’s Renan Lodi and Borussia Dortmund’s Raphael Guerreiro could be poached by the Cityzens if Tierney move fails.