Arsenal loanee unlikely to return to club

Arsenal face Premier League title rivals Liverpool in the FA Cup third round on Sunday. 

Having come close to winning the top flight title last term, the Gunners also sat top of the pile at Christmas but a run of one win in five games has seen Mikel Arteta’s side lose ground in the race to be crowned champions.

With a place in the FA Cup fourth round at stake, the game on Sunday presents the Gunners with a good opportunity not only to return to winning ways, but also to send out a message to their title rivals.

Ahead of the game, though, it has been reported that Arsenal could sell defender Kieran Tierney.

According to Football Insider, the Scot isn’t likely to be recalled from his loan spell at Real Sociedad and Arsenal are instead looking at other options to bolster the left side of their backline.

The 26-year-old defender made the move to Sociedad on loan last summer, and has since played 11 ties for the La Liga side across all competitions.

Having joined Arsenal from Celtic in 2019, Tierney initially played a pivotal role for the North London side, but he fell out of favour when Oleksandr Zinchenko joined from Manchester City in 2022.

The Scot made 36 appearances for Arsenal last season, but started just six Premier League games and was therefore loaned to Sociedad.

Now, though, Arsenal boss Arteta is said to have identified left-back as an area that he wants to improve his options in.

The report claims that Tierney is unlikely to be recalled, though, as Arteta feels he can’t rely on the Scotland international due to his poor injury record.

Tierney is most likely to leave Arsenal during the upcoming summer transfer window, the report claims.