Kieran Tierney was billed as Scotland's golden boy in an admittedly lacking generation of footballers. That has mainly rung true for the Celtic academy graduate in a so far glittering career - although he has fallen in a competitive battle recently.
An Unai Emery signing, the Isle of Man-born star moved to the Emirates Stadium in 2019 for a fee of £25million - which remains Celtic's record sale so far, and could be for a while before Jota, Liel Abada or another of their star-studded squad move on. Life in north London also started superbly for the Motherwell-raised starlet, although Emery was canned just six months after Tierney's move down south - and Mikel Arteta has been his boss ever since.
Still, an FA Cup and Community Shield double in the lockdown-plagued summer of 2020 was an example of what was to come in Tierney's Gunners career, and with Arteta steering the ship life looked good on the face of things. Yet with two eighth-placed finishes in Arteta's first year-and-a-half, league performances had to change.
They did to some extent last season with a fifth-placed finish; Tierney was Arsenal's first-choice left-back with Nuno Tavares as his supporting cast member and produced some stunning performances, though that was to change in the summer of 2022 when Arsenal completed the stunning capture of Manchester City star Oleksandr Zinchenko.
It came as quite a surprise. The Ukrainian had played a key part in City's last-gasp Premier League title win in an inverted role that Joao Cancelo had mastered, and alongside the signing of Gabriel Jesus, eyebrows were raised at why City had let two of their highest-profile squad members leave for an English rival.
It seems has paid dividends for Arteta - his side, at time of writing, are three points ahead of City with a game in hand for the Premier League title that the club have not won since the infamous 'Invincibles' squad of 2003/04. But for Tierney, he is one of the victims of their own success - and it is clear to see why when digesting both the in-depth statistics since Zinchenko's arrival and the background of each player's developmental upbringing.
Of course, a key fact is that Arteta grew up - in a managerial sense - learning from Manchester City's tactical guru Pep Guardiola. Having spent in Barcelona's La Masia academy when Guardiola was in the first team, Arteta was then hired by his elder, spending three years as Guardiola's assistant at the Etihad Stadium. Winning two Premier League titles together - including the Centurions season where City racked up 100 Premier League points - and three domestic cups, it was obvious that Arteta was a prized young coach. It soon became clear why Zinchenko was so sought-after by Arteta.
The Ukrainian had grown up in City's youth academy, with Pep's ideals being drilled into him from a young age. Meanwhile, Tierney's upbringing was spent in the Celtic talent school of Lennoxtown, with Brendan Rodgers being his leader in Celtic's most successful period of the century. The Scot made a habit of taking his man on down the wing, rarely passing inside and opting for wing play, whilst Zinchenko was part of the new breed of inverted wing-backs.
This can be evidenced as recently as the final game of last season. With City 2-1 down to Aston Villa and needing a win to clinch the league title with just 12 minutes left, the Ukrainian took centre stage. Cutting inside, beating his man and passing the ball to Rodri, City drew level and eventually won both the game and their fourth title in five years.
Tierney, on the other hand, was famed at Celtic for waiting for his man to commit before going past him and drilling a ball across the face of goal. Take the 5-0 win over Rangers in April 2018 for example; Callum McGregor gives the ball to Tierney, before the youngster beats his man and squares the ball for Odsonne Edouard to open the scoring.
But with Zinchenko and Arteta both being taught their tactical brilliance in the school of Pep, the duo have become chalk and cheese - leaving Tierney somewhat alienated as the Gunners go from strength to strength in their title hunt.
Zinchenko showcased this perfectly with his incredible involvement in their 3-2 win over Manchester United at the end of January. Picking the ball up in the half-space, he drilled a superb ball to an expectant midfielder, before the ball was shifted out to the left. As Eddie Nketiah heads the cross in, it's baffling to see Zinchenko in the centre of the box - something Tierney would not do typically if ever.
That's no harsh mark of his talents; he is a brilliant player and that is clear for all to see. But as an Emery signing, the signs are there that he does not fulfil Arteta's needs. This is evidenced in the FA Cup loss against Manchester City just a week later; he much prefers sauntering down the wing and hoping his pinpoint crossing can pick out a teammate, but with Arsenal's players used to Zinchenko's possession based game, there is that sense of disjointedness when he starts. You can make the argument that City are harder to play against than United, but the Red Devils are only two points behind their rivals in the league table. The gap is not overly daunting.
Furthermore, something to factor in is Zinchenko's record in big games as opposed to Tierney's. In three games against tougher opponents this season, Tierney registered a pass accuracy of 67 per cent, 79 per cent and 67 per cent against Tottenham, Manchester City and Chelsea respectively - a huge decrease from Zinchenko's 92 per cent, 81 per cent and 83 per cent in the retrospective games.
There's also positional play to consider; Tierney, in terms of heat maps, has backed up the theory that he hugs the touchline more than Zinchenko. The Ukrainian plays almost in a No.8 role, with Tierney playing in your classic No.3 wing-back role. Now that may be down to Arteta utilising them differently, but with Zinchenko being chosen for big wins against Tottenham (twice), Chelsea and Manchester United, that seems unlikely.
Even simple stats make the situation seem rather grey for Tierney. Zinchenko boasts an 89 per cent pass accuracy compared to his 84, and a vast increase in dribble accuracy of 78 per cent to Tierney's 45 per cent. Of course, his tendency to drift inside means that he is more likely to venture into empty areas, but that is where Arteta likes his play to be focussed. Most shockingly of all, Zinchenko has only crossed the ball 24 times all season - Tierney more than doubles that with 53.
And with just 38 minutes played less than the Ukrainian, that won't change much.
The result, essentially, is that if Arteta can beat City to the title by using the very methods that he and Zinchenko were taught completely by Guardiola, then the future won't look bright in terms of first-team minutes for Tierney.
He is definitively second in the pecking order, there is no denying that. But that is through no fault of his own. He has simply become a victim of tactical success at the very club he plays within.
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