Kieran Tierney is reportedly getting closer to sealing a move to Arsenal after the club restructured their offer for the Celtic full-back. The Gunners back line has badly needed reinforcements, and he believes Tierney is the solution to their defensive vulnerabilities.
It was previously reported that Arsenal has seen two bids for the left-back rejected, and were locked in negotiations with the Scottish champions. Celtic were apparently left unsatisfied with the package Arsenal were offering. The club proposed paying the transfer fee in installments followed by add-ons to make up for their limited budget. While Arsenal met Celtic's £25million asking price for Tierney, they want to pay the transfer fee in installments and add-ons, and the Bhoys were not satisfied with the package on the table.
The Gunners may have realized their mistake and managed to pull off a breakthrough and have made progress to getting Tierney after redoing their offer, the Metro reports. Now the club has agreed to pay a larger amount and not in installments. Fees are to made upfront and this looks to have been decisive.
Reports claim that Tierney has requested Celtic that he wants to secure a transfer to North London and it now looks that the deal is about to happen, in fact happening in the next few days. Emery is adamant about getting the rest of the club's transfer deals done quickly with Nicolas Pepe's arrival from Lille set to be announced soon.
Should the deal reach completion, it would mean the five new faces would be arriving at Arsenal with William Saliba, Dani Ceballos, and Gabriel Martinelli coming through the doors. However, Saliba is said to have returned to parent club Saint-Etienne for the coming season.
Form Celtic Virgil van Dijk has expressed his support for Tierney's transfer, saying that the full-back will see success in the Premier League.
"It is not an easy step to make, and you have to play well to do it, but he has the qualities. Kieran made his debut against Dundee when I was at Celtic, Van Dijk said. "I scored a free-kick up there, and then he came on and helped us get the win. You could tell he was a good player who would do well."
Van Dijk faced his former teammate Tierney back in 2017 in Scotland in a friendly match with the Netherlands at Pittodrie. Tierney captained his country, and Van Dijk claims he was well aware of his opponent's strength at that time.
