Former Celtic star Kris Commons admits he's been left scratching his head over Kieran Tierney's reduced role at Arsenal.
The 25-year-old has found himself a bit-part player at the Emirates with Saturday night's benching against Nottingham Forest left Tony Adams among others miffed. Tierney was a key contributor under Mikel Arteta before this campaign but lost his starting left back berth to Oleksandr Zinchenko. But the real worry has been the likes of auxiliary Arsenal options like Takehiro Tomiyasu and Jakub Kiwior earning starts ahead of him.
Commons cannot put his finger why Tierney has been left on the outside looking in but he is under no doubt his old Parkhead pal will return to his former glories. Speaking in his Daily Mail column, Commons said: "Knowing him as I do, I can vouch that Tierney is a born leader. Whether it's Celtic, Arsenal or Scotland, he always plays for the jersey and puts his heart and soul into every performance. He's a winner. He doesn't do half-measures. Even in his breakthrough season with Celtic, I remember watching him in training and just being in awe to be honest. In his first session back after recovering from a broken leg, he was absolutely flying into tackles and getting stuck into the more senior players.
"That full-blooded commitment is something which has stayed with him throughout his career and it remains one of his biggest assets. But, from being touted as a future captain of the Gunners only a year ago, it now looks increasingly likely that Tierney will leave the club in the summer. Arsenal have some serious injury problems in defence at the moment, with William Saliba and Oleksandr Zinchenko both out of action. The absence of centreback Saliba, in particular, has been a major reason why their title challenge has faltered so badly over recent weeks.
"With Zinchenko missing at left-back, that should have been a green light for Tierney to start against Nottingham Forest on Saturday night. But Mikel Arteta chose to start Polish youngster Jakub Kiwior instead of Tierney. Signed from Serie A side Spezia in January, Kiwior is a centre-back by trade. But he was picked ahead of Tierney, something which I found pretty perplexing to be honest given that Tierney remains one of the best left-backs in Europe on his day.
"He looked like he was going to be a key player in the revolution under Arteta. I find it really strange the way Tierney seems to have fallen out of favour. He has only started six league games all season after losing his place to Zinchenko, a player who was converted to left-back from central midfield.
"Zinchenko seems to suit Arteta's system of asking the full-backs to play inverted to dominate the centre of the pitch. He's a classy player and has certain strengths in possession, but Tierney is a far better defender. He's an all-round more complete footballer. When Zinchenko picked up a calf injury that ruled him out for the rest of the season, Tierney's eyes must have lit up."
Tierney's long-term future at Arsenal appears uncertain and a link with Newcastle refuses to go away. Commons reckons linking up with the Toon for an assault on next season's Champions League makes sense. He added: "I've seen a lot of stories doing the rounds over the past week about how Eddie Howe wants to make Tierney Newcastle's first choice left-back next season. I think it's a move which would make a lot of sense and tick a lot of boxes for both the club and the player himself.
"From Newcastle's point of view, they would be getting one of the best left-backs in Europe, a born winner, and a guy who could be a mainstay in the team for the next 10 years. Tierney is still only 25 years old. His peak years are still ahead of him. He's already proven at the top level with club and country and also has Champions League experience.
"That's something which Newcastle will be desperate to add in the summer. Players who have Champions League experience and can come in and immediately improve their starting XI."
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