Arsenal's transfer plans have suffered a blow just days into the summer window which opened the same day the European Championships kicked off. The Gunners were widely reported to be keen on selling left-back Kieran Tierney to raise funds however, the 27-year-old looks to have suffered an unfortunate and potentially serious hamstring injury.
He was stretchered off an hour into Scotland’s group stage clash with Switzerland, clearly in distress having hyper-extended his knee, after grabbing his hamstring.
It is his third muscle injury in the last 12 months, with the previous two forcing him to miss a combined total of 19 games. But the Scotsman’s poor luck with injury goes further back: he has regularly been sidelined for medical reasons and missed almost 100 days after knee surgery in 2022.
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Fitness issues are one reason Mikel Arteta may have been considering cashing in the defender from his roster, having already loaned him to Real Sociedad for the duration of 2023/24.
With a value of just over £10m according to Transfermarkt and a reported £120,000-a-week salary, the Gunners could have been looking to balance the books with a shrewd sale.
Tierney joined Arsenal from Celtic in 2019 for a record transfer fee (£25m) both for a Scottish national and a player from the Scottish league. He has amassed 124 appearances for Arsenal to date and helped them to the FA Cup title in 2019/20.
Internationally he holds 47 caps and started both of Scotland’s first two games in their Euros campaign, being subbed off against Germany in the opener.
Steve Clarke has already confirmed he will be without Tierney for the team's final group game against Hungary on Sunday, although no confirmed update has yet been provided.
Arsenal have also been linked with moves for Pedro Neto, Martin Zubimendi and Amadou Onana, with Thomas Partey expected to leave this summer. They open their Premier League campaign against Wolves on August 17th.
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