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Boyd: Tierney could leave Celtic

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Kris Boyd has insisted that he “wouldn’t be surprised” to see Celtic left-back Kieran Tierney leave the club this summer.

The 27-year-old made 40 appearances for the Hoops last season – including half that number in the Premiership – although injury problems have made it a stop-start campaign for the 12-time Scotland international.

A recent report [Daily Record] indicated that Premier League champions Manchester City – who are in the market for a new left-back – are keen on Tierney, and, speaking to Sky Sports’ Transfer Centre podcast [Wednesday, 8:01pm, 1:04:35], Boyd admitted that such a move may be too good to turn down.

“I think this is a massive, massive summer for Kieran Tierney,” the 35-year-old said. “I think that if bids for him do come in, then maybe now his head could be turned to move on.

“When you get the opportunity to move to some of the clubs that Kieran Tierney has been linked with, it doesn’t come along very often and it might just be the right time.

“Tierney’s in the Scotland squad with Andy Robertson and those two are always compared to each other. [Tierney’s] seen Robertson lift the Champions League in the last few weeks as well and that will annoy him.

“He’ll be pleased for him but it’ll annoy him in terms of ‘I’ve been linked with clubs that could be doing that as well’, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Tierney leaves this summer.”

OPINION

Boyd makes a great point here, and there is every chance Tierney could leave Parkhead for a move south of the border this summer. As the former Rangers striker says, chances like this do not come around very often at all, so it is likely to be now or never for the 27-year-old. City could well be looking for a new left-back, since Oleksandr Zinchenko is not guaranteed to stay in that role and the signing of Danilo has definitely not worked out for Pep Guardiola. Other than that, the English champions have Fabian Delph, who Guardiola has deployed at left-back, but who is also not an out-and-out left-back. So then, step up Kieran Tierney? He has certainly been one of Celtic’s best players over the last few seasons and it would be a hammer blow for Neil Lennon’s side to see him leave. But it could well turn out that if Tierney turns down a move to City – if a bid does indeed come in – then he could have missed a fantastic opportunity to take his career to the next level.

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