Mikel Arteta allayed fears that Kieran Tierney had suffered a recurrence of a knee injury, despite the Scot lasting just 30 minutes of Arsenal’s friendly against Nurnberg on Friday.
The 25-year-old started against the German side, his first appearance in an Arsenal shirt since March due to knee surgery, but was substituted after only half an hour, with Cedric Soares taking his place.
Gunners fans will have been worried to watch the left-back replaced, but his manager says it was always the plan for him to be replaced in the first half.
Not only is there not a new problem with Tierney, or an old one returned, but Arteta says he is in great shape.
‘He’s really good,’ the Spaniard said of Tierney after the friendly in Germany.
‘He’s been training really good. Obviously he’s been out for over three months now so we wanted to give him a proper warm-up, play the first half an hour and then get him out. So he was in good condition and there’s no issues there.’
Tierney has regularly struggled with injuries since his £25m move from Celtic to Arsenal in August 2019.
He managed just 12 Premier League starts in his first season, 27 in his next and 22 in the season just gone, so Arteta will be hoping he is back stronger than ever this summer.
Left-back is a position Arsenal are likely to strengthen before the end of the transfer window, given Tierney’s injury history and the struggles that Nuno Tavares had there last season when filling in for the Scot.
The Gunners are keen on Ajax’s Lisandro Martinez, but face serious competition from Manchester United, who are favourites to sign the Argentinian.
Tavares has been linked with loan moves to Atalanta and Marseille, although he will only be allowed to leave if a new left-back comes in.
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