Arsenal: So, if they can sign Kieran Tierney ‘swiftly’…

Per James Benge of Football.London, Arsenal believe they can sign Kieran Tierney swiftly if they need to. So, if that is the case, why don’t they?

One of the most advantageous aspects of Arsenal’s transfer business last summer was that they did it quickly and efficiently. By early July, all five players that they eventually signed — Sokratis, Stephan Lichtsteiner, Matteo Guendouzi, Bernd Leno and Lucas Torreira — were at the club.

Find the latest episode of the Pain in the Arsenal Podcast here — The Big Season Review

Not only did that mean the club could relax for the rest of the window and avoid the last-gasp panic that sweeps through the footballing world during the final week of the summer window; these crucial players were integrated into the first-team squad during the preseason, meaning they were ready from day one of the new season — Torreira and Lichtsteiner were slightly delayed due to the World Cup. The lesson is quite clear: get your business done swiftly and efficiently and early.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

• 3 standout players from 1-0 victory over Everton
• 3 positives & negatives from Goodison Park victory
• Arsenal vs PSV preview: Prediction, team news & lineups
• 3 talking points from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park
• Mikel Arteta provides Gabriel Martinelli injury update after Everton win

It is, then, somewhat maddening to see Arsenal’s lack of transfer activity so far this summer. The transfer window is now two months old and will shut in exactly 31 days. And yet, just one official signing has been made, 18-year-old Gabriel Martinelli from Brazilian club Ituano. It is not exactly ideal.

And this week, that infuriation is only intensified. James Benge of Football.London, in a summer recap of the business that has been completed thus far and what is still to be done over the coming weeks, revealed that Arsenal believe that they can move through a deal for Kieran Tierney ‘swiftly’, should they need to with Napoli reportedly lurking in the background. He reiterated that sentiment on Twitter so there is, in Benge’s view, some truth to the rumour.

If this is true, by extension, this means that the Gunners, for some reason or other, are intentionally delaying signing Tierney. If they believe that they could sign him quickly if they wanted to, that means, conversely, that they are purposefully not signing him, seeing as he is not at the club.

Now, it seems fairly obvious to me that this is completely and utterly stupid. It would be quite useful for Tierney to be spending time with his new teammates in training and on the preseason tour of America this July, right? It also means that Arsenal can then focus on other transfers, like Wilfried Zaha and William Saliba, two deals that might take a lot of attention to get across the line.

And the delay is not coming from the player or Celtic. Celtic are happy to sell, for the right price, and Benge reports that personal terms will not be an issue with Tierney wanting around £70,000-a-week. So why has this deal not been completed? The only even remotely viable reason I can conjure up is that they want to sell Sead Kolasinac first and are worried that signing Tierney would decrease his value, but that does not quite fly as everyone is aware of their interest in Tierney anyway.

In the end, the only reason I can see is that Arsenal are just incompetent, that they have not learned their lessons and that they are making the same mistakes once again. Surely, if you can sign Tierney, you do so, right? Apparently not.