When Kieran Tierney arrived at Arsenal in 2019, he was regarded as the solution to our left back problems, as we were reaching the twilight of Nacho Monreal’s time with the club, and Sead Kolasinac wasn’t up to scratch. His time at Arsenal has been plagued by a series of injuries but he always put up committed performances and tucked his jersey in every time he played.

When Arsenal let Kolasinac leave on loan before his eventual departure, Tierney was an ever-present in the team, but he always tended to have lengthy injury layoffs, which hurt the squad in the long term. There was the strong run in the Europa League that saw Mikel Arteta weaken Arsenal’s midfield to field Granit Xhaka play left back, which saw the Gunners lose out in the semis to Unai Emery’s Villarreal, then two seasons ago, Tierney and Partey’s injuries played a major role in Arsenal missing out of Champions League qualification.

Last season, Arteta reached his wits end on the Tierney injury situation and went all in for Lisandro Martinez, but the Argentine defender chose to play for his former manager instead. Arteta went for Oleksandr Zinchenko, a player he knows so well from his time as Pep Guardiola’s #2, and Zinchenko made the left back role his, inverting to central midfield and changing the way attacks. 

With Tierney falling down the pecking order despite being a player of immense quality, Arteta has tried to keep him happy by featuring him in the other tournaments Arsenal has competed last season, with Tierney playing and starting all six Europa League matches, scoring a goal against Zurich, as well as starts in the FA Cup and Carabao Cup. However, he has started only six Premier League games in the last campaign, coming on as a substitute in 21 other games.

This season, Tierney never started any preseason game, coming on as a sub for Jurrien Timber and Takehiro Tomiyasu and when the campaign started, Tierney was no longer on the starting squad, as Arsenal has had situations with players in the left hand side of the defense, and there was no Tierney in the team to summon to the pitch. 

With Jurrien Timber injured and Takehiro Tomiyasu serving his suspension, Arteta must have clearly felt that he has enough depth to cover on the left hand side of defense. Arsenal has confirmed that Kieran Tierney has joined Real Sociedad on loan. The Scottish defender had some good things to say about his new move,

“My first impressions are so good. Everyone I meet is so friendly, the city is so nice and the stadium is beautiful as well. Yes, it’s a big change, but something I’m looking forward to so much. An exciting challenge and I am delighted to be here. So Martin [Odegaard] and I speak a lot and he says the fans are so good, the people are so good. Everyone is very welcoming and you’ll just love your time here. The club is in a good place, especially the last few seasons and this season’s Champions League, so an amazing club.”

It’s truly the end of the road for Tierney, as he’s about to start an adventure in the La Liga sunshine and I hope he enjoys his football in the club. Real Sociedad is currently in the UEFA Champions League after an impressive fourth place finish in La Liga last season, so the potential for Tierney to feature against Arsenal in the competition will be a juicy prospect. 

Good luck to him. He has a contract till 2026, so Arsenal can take their time and make a decision on his future further down the line.

Sayonara.

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The post Real Sociedad Welcomes a Brave Heart, Kieran Tierney appeared first on Gooner Daily.