Arsenal and Kieran Tierney: Why did it take this long?

Arsenal have made a £25 million bid for Celtic’s Kieran Tierney, meeting the club’s valuation. But why has it taken so long? This deal should have been wrapped up weeks ago.

It is not a surprise that getting your business done quickly, efficiently, and eary is almost always beneficial. There are plenty of reasons for this, from the financial benefits from avoiding a panicked spending spree in the final days of the window to a greater settling in period for the new players during the pre-season.

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The overarching point is that it is important to sign players early in the summer, which is precisely what Arsenal did last summer — it was, sadly, a welcome surprise.

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This year, however, the normal dallying and hesitating has resumed. Only one player has been signed, only one other has been sold, both deals totalling less than £10 million, and there has been very little movement on the recruitment front altogether.

In some cases, this lack of activity is understandable. Arsenal are trying to get the best deals possible when negotiating for William Saliba and Wilfried Zaha, for instance, and that negotiating takes time. While frustrating, the delay is somewhat palatable. However, when it comes to Kieran Tierney, the same grace cannot be reserved.

The Gunners need a left-back. They recognised this need early on. They highlighted Tierney as the solution to this need, a rightly priced, rightly aged, rightly talented player. Everything was in place. And then they proceeded to take their time, submitting an initial offer at 60% of Celtic’s £25 million valuation.

In theory, that is not a problem. But on Friday, three weeks after their initial £15 million bid, Arsenal came back in with another £25 million bid, meeting Celtic’s valuation. That proves one clear thing: the club was willing to pay the £25 million that Celtic demanded. So why did they take three weeks and over two months of the transfer window to make a suitable offer?

If Unai Emery, Raul Sanllehi and others wanted Tierney in May, which they did, and if they were willing to pay the £25 million to sign him, which this offer confirms they were, why didn’t they get this all over and done with as quickly as possible and complete the transfer? It makes completely and utterly no sense whatsoever.

Tierney should be in the United States, spending time with his new teammates, learning Emery’s system and the demands of the left-back position, and acclimatising to what is the biggest change in his life to date. Instead, he is sitting at home, not knowing what will unfold over the coming weeks, unable to rest, recover and relax.

The whole Tierney chase is non-sensical, and just goes to prove how unprofessionally Arsenal are managed. Hopefully, this bid will put it to an end, as should have been the case three or four weeks ago.