Everton rejected by Arsenal star over summer transfer as Celtic prove more tempting than Moyes

The true commitment of an Arsenal player to join Celtic this summer has been revealed through rejection of Everton.

Kieran Tierney will complete an emotional return to Parkhead this summer, almost six years on from his £25m Gunners move. Injury has impacted his stay at Arsenal which has included a loan to Real Sociedad but he has been back in and around Mikel Arteta’s squad this calendar year.

There were options for him to choose alternate destinations. Bayer Leverkusen, Sevilla, Juventus and Everton who are moving into a new stadium with manager David Moyes were all alternate options according to The Herald. Boss Brendan Rodgers met the defender at a Gala Dinner in London and then the the club held contract talks with Tierney, it’s stated, with it clear his future was not at Arsenal. That was enough to seal a Hoops return that proved too tempting to reject.

What Brendan Rodgers has said on Tierney

The boss said in January: "Ideally it would [happen in January] but, at this moment, he's still an Arsenal player. I think everyone is agreed that it will definitely take place in the summer. If we can do it beforehand, then great. I don't know. I think that, like I said, we'd prepared that for the summer. And I don't want to speak too much on it, with the greatest respect, because he's not a Celtic player here now with us. But, if we were able to do it, of course we would like to do that. But that's out of our control at this moment in time."

It sets the scene for another exit at Celtic. Greg Taylor is not set to stick around and possibly play deputy to the Scotland international, instead opting to run down his contract which expires at the end of this season. Dinamo Zagreb have been mentioned as a possible option while pundits like Kris Boyd have urged Rangers to have a look.

Celtic confirmation

The Hoops confirmed a deal for Tierney in chairman Peter Lawwell’s statement on the interim accounts. It read: “Profit from trading has reduced £5.1m between the six months ended 31 December 2024 compared to the same period last year due to a number of factors including, higher labour costs, the full year effect of higher utility contracts entered into in the prior year and significant stadium preventative maintenance spending.

“The increase in the PBIT of £13.6m to £43.9m was mainly driven by the exit of seven players resulting in the net gain on player trading of £21.5m (2023: £2.6m) which included Matt O’Riley, Bosun Lawal, Tomoki Iwata, Michael Johnston, Yuki Kobayashi, Daniel Kelly and Hyeongyu Oh. It is important to note with respect to cash and cash equivalents, that over the last six months, despite significant profitability from player trading and a successful Champions League campaign, we saw a £11.8m reduction in cash reserves from £77.2m at 30 June 2024 to £65.4m at 31 December 2024 (31 December 2023: £67.3m).

“The key drivers of this were the significant transfer spend incurred in the period, where we exceeded our record transfer spend twice, and the investment into the first team playing squad wage costs, and our continued investment into infrastructure including our Barrowfield development, Lennoxtown and Celtic Park. During the January 2025 transfer window, we acquired the permanent registration of Jota and the temporary registration of Jeffrey Schlupp. In addition, we extended the contract of Kasper Schmeichel and entered into a pre-contract agreement that will see Kieran Tierney return to Celtic in July 2025.

“We disposed of the registrations of Kyogo Furuhashi, Alexandro Bernabei and placed Luis Palma, Odin Holm and Stephen Welsh on Loan. Our commitment as always is to invest in continuous improvement in all areas of the club and, most importantly, in the first team squad. The success of our model has ensured that funding is available to acquire players who will contribute to ongoing success. We invested significantly in the summer transfer window and while we aimed to do more in the recent window, we go into the remainder of the season from a strong position and with confidence. “