Retired Scottish striker and podcast pundit Kevin Kyle has been discussing Kieran Tierney’s departure from Celtic last summer.
In August last year, Arsenal completed the signing of the Scottish left-back for a fee of £25m (per BBC).
The defender left Celtic Park having scored eight goals and assisted 37 for teammates in 170 appearances for the Hoops (per Transfermarkt).
In the latest episode of The Open Goal Podcast, Kyle discussed the 23-year-old full-back’s departure from the club and the Parkhead faithful’s reaction to it.
He said: “Them Celtic fans that started giving him stick, they don’t really know what they’re talking about, to be honest, because the guy is a Celtic die-hard, will always be.
“He lived his dream playing for his boyhood club. He’s got ambitions to do something else in his footballing life. He chose to go to Arsenal and that’s just been [vindicated] by winning the FA Cup.
“Arsenal might go out this summer and spend a lot of money. I don’t think Arsenal are too far away from actually getting a decent team that… could they challenge [in] the top four? Absolutely.
“Celtic sold him, he didn’t leave, Celtic sold him. So, it works both ways sometimes – the club benefitted.”
TIF Thoughts…
As can be seen in what Kyle had to say, he believes that Tierney was right to leave Celtic last summer and that he should not be slated for doing so by the Celtic Park faithful.
Do you think Kieran Tierney was right to leave Celtic last summer?
Yes, for the good of his career
No, I think it was a bad decision
At the time of his departure from Parkhead, Tierney said: “It’s a hard decision to leave a club that you love so much” (per BBC), so, perhaps Kyle is right that fans need to cut him some slack when it was evidently a tough decision for the left-back.