Kieran Tierney to Celtic in 'final stages' as Jota warned what he'll need initially – Parkhead transfer bulletin
Kieran Tierney's Celtic return is in the "final stages" according to reports.
Brendan Rodgers confirmed a pre-contract agreement to bring the Scotland star back to Glasgow from Arsenal is in place. Rodgers and the club want to speed up the timeline by thrashing out a deal that would bring Tierney to Parkhead before the transfer window closes next week. And with the Hoops boss also confirming that Alex Valle is back in Barcelona finalising a move elsewhere - thought to be Como in Serie A - after his loan spell, then it seems a matter of time before Tierney is unveiled.
Now reports in Italy claim that a January switch for Tierney is nearing it's completion. A cut price fee isn't thought to be a problem with Arsenal set to lose Tierney for nothing at the end of the season anyway, although a loan deal may be more likely. Rodgers said: “Ideally, it would. But at this moment he’s still an Arsenal player. So I think everyone is agreed that will definitely take place in the summer. If we can do it beforehand, then great.
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“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.”
Rodgers also admitted that he was unaware of any Celtic move for Sarpsborg wide man Sondre Orjasaeter. Norwegian media claimed that the Parkhead club were in for the 21-year-old with his club slapping a £7million price tag on him. But any interest is news to Rodgers. He said: "I'm not aware of that at all. I don't know."
Meanwhile, Celtic favourite and record Sport columnist Chris Sutton is delighted to hear that Tierney is on his way back. His return will make it the second homecoming of the window after Jota made the move back from Rennes. But Sutton has warned that the Portuguese may need to be patient and outlined what else is needed to make it an ideal window for the champions.
He posted: "Great news to hear Kieran Tierney will return to Celtic.. Jota may need a bit of time and patience on his return but at 25 should have his best years ahead of him. Just a top class centre forward required to replace Kyogo…"
