Steve Clarke casts verdict on Celtic-bound star's Parkhead return as he makes lighthearted 'set plays' quip
Kieran Tierney will complete his return to the Scottish champions when his Arsenal contract expires on June 30
Steve Clarke was delighted to see Celtic-bound Kieran Tierney finish his time at Arsenal with a flourish by scoring on the final day of the Premier League season against Southampton.
And he joked the full-back is now pestering him to send him forward for set plays after signing off as a Gunners player by finishing at the near post from Ben White's cross in the 2-1 win over Saints ahead of rejoining the Hoops on a free transfer later this month.
The 28-year-old was largely restricted to substitute appearances under boss Mikel Arteta during the second half of last season, having recovered from a serious hamstring injury at Euro 2024. With his six-year stay in North London now coming to an end, Tierney is preparing to head back to his boyhood club.
Asked for his thoughts on Tierney’s decision to return to Celtic as he prepares to enter the Scotland Hall of Fame by making his 50th international cap against Iceland in a friendly at Hampden Park this evening, Clarke admitted: “I think more recently, it's been the injury situation with Kieran. The one last summer stopped him having more regular game-time. The six months before that, he'd been in Spain with (Real) Sociedad and done really well.
“And it was good at Arsenal that he stayed and ended up the way it ended up, by getting back in the team, getting regular minutes off the bench. He keeps telling me I've got to put him forward for set-plays because he scored a goal from one in his last game against Southampton!
“Listen, Kieran's happy to be coming back up to Scotland to play. If Kieran's happy, then I'm happy.”
Clarke continued: “Obviously he’s shown over his career that he’s a top, top player. We’re lucky to have him. In recent years, he’s had one or two little injury issues that has probably restricted his number of caps. But he was one of those players that we identified very early when I remember going down to meet him in London after he just moved to Arsenal to speak to him about his role within the squad and what we expected of him.
“Since then, we’ve had built a really good relationship. So we should be grateful that we’ve got him and hopefully he doesn’t stop at 50 and the caps keep coming because that’s what I set out to do was to cap a number of players that would be the core of this squad moving forward.
“And so many players in the squad now have made over 50 caps. Kieran is just another one to add to that.”
Arsenal bid emotional farewell to Celtic-bound Tierney
It comes after Arsenal bid an emotional farewell to the popular defender by posting a compilation of highlights videos on social media, one of which featured Tierney delivering a goodbye message to the club’s fanbase as his exit was officially confirmed.
He said: “Just thank you for everything from day one. They supported us through the good times and the bad, and they supported me through some hard times as well,” the 27-year-old said to the supporters.
“I think that's what I'm most grateful for, the times where it wasn't so good or so easy for me is when they probably supported me most, so I'm just very grateful and I feel very lucky to have the support from them.
“I feel so lucky that I've played for this club and the love that the supporters have given me has been amazing. I've loved every day here and I've learned so much, I've improved so much and I just feel very lucky.”