Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers has remained tight-lipped on rumours that Arsenal's Kieran Tierney could rejoin the club in the January transfer window.
The Scottish Premiership champions are believed to have held talks over re-signing the left-back in January, as Tierney has now entered the last six months of his contract at the Emirates Stadium.
The 27-year-old rose to prominence during his time at Parkhead, where he provided eight goals and 37 assists in 170 matches for Celtic and won five Scottish Premiership titles before joining Arsenal in a £25m deal in 2019.
Tierney immediately became a fans' favourite in North London, but his Arsenal career has been blighted by injuries, and the Gunners are apparently happy to let him leave on a free transfer this summer.
Arsenal could recoup a portion of the £25m that they paid for the defender through a January sale, but Rodgers refused to comment on the speculation after his side's 3-0 win over St Mirren on Sunday.
Rodgers: 'Tierney is an Arsenal player'
© Imago
When asked by BBC Sport if there was any update on Tierney's possible return, a stone-faced Rodgers replied: "No" before being pressed on whether that is a deal he would like to complete this month.
"Well he's an Arsenal player so clearly I won't speak about it," added Rodgers, who managed Tierney at Celtic during the defender's final three years at the club from 2016 to 2019.
Since leaving the Hoops for Arsenal, Tierney has come up with five goals and 13 assists in 125 appearances for Mikel Arteta's side, but he lost his status as first-choice left-back in 2022 following the arrival of Oleksandr Zinchenko.
The Scotland international subsequently spent the 2023-24 campaign on loan at Real Sociedad before picking up a serious hamstring injury at Euro 2024, which scuppered his chances of a permanent summer exit.
Tierney's only appearance for Arsenal this season so far came in December's 3-2 EFL Cup quarter-final win over Crystal Palace, and he has been an unused substitute in eight Premier League and two Champions League games.
What has gone wrong for Tierney at Arsenal?
© Imago
After sporting the captain's armband for Celtic at the tender ages of 20 and 21, the expectation was that Tierney would eventually become Arsenal's new on-field leader for years to come.
However, the Scotsman's body has failed him time and time again; since joining the Gunners in 2019, he has sat out a total of 94 matches for club and country, including games missed for Real Sociedad.
Even if Tierney had not endured such a rough time with injuries, there is no guarantee that he would still be bombing down the left flank for Arteta, who has moved away from the overlapping full-back in favour of defenders who can invert.
Drifting inside comes more naturally for the likes of Zinchenko, Riccardo Calafiori and 18-year-old Hale End graduate Myles Lewis-Skelly, all of whom are above Tierney in the Emirates pecking order.
There is every chance that Tierney has played his final game for Arsenal, but there should be no bad blood when the two parties inevitably part ways in 2025.
Ben Knapton
