Brendan Rodgers has revealed that Arsenal tried to sign Kieran Tierney from Celtic in the summer of 2016 just after he’d taken over as manager of the club.
After a conversation with the Scotland international the left-back, a boyhood Bhoys fan, was persuaded to sign a new contract.
Rodgers went on to win the treble in consecutive seasons with Celtic and added another Scottish League Cup before quitting the club to become Leicester’s new boss.
Rodgers will be reunited with Tierney on Saturday afternoon when the Gunners visit the King Power stadium and is predicting big things of his former charge now that he too has crossed the border.
“He’s gone into Arsenal, a really competitive team and a huge club, and it takes that little bit of time to settle,” said Rodgers.
“He’s gone from one big city to another, leaving behind his family and friends in Glasgow, so it’s been a period of adaptation for him. I’ve got no doubt he will do very, very well in his time.”
Reflecting on why Tierney so caught his eye, he went on: “As a player, in the first week working with him, I could see after two or three days why there was a lot of clamour for him.
“From that moment he was absolutely brilliant for me. He became stronger, more powerful, very aggressive in his game.
“He worked hard every single day but he was also a strong boy mentally, and he had a lot of good mentors. Scott Brown was an incredible captain for me, and he (Tierney) took on that mantle to try and be like him.
“Every day in training he was very focused on becoming better, and obviously he loved Celtic as a club. He supported the club, and that gave him that extra one per cent every time he played.
“So as a player he was fantastic, and he captained the team for me on a few occasions as well, but also a great boy, very humble, just wanting to be the very best he can be.”
The Scotsman reports that Celtic’s latest financial reports show that Arsenal ended up shelling out £25 million for Tierney this summer. We may well have got him cheaper three years ago had he not been persuaded to stay by Rodgers.
“Peter (Lawwell, chief executive) had said to me – and he was very honest about it – there was a possibility of Kieran going to Arsenal, but there was no rush for Celtic to sell him, and there was a big offer at the time,” revealed Rodgers.
“So I spoke to Kieran, told him I wanted him to stay, to be a big part of what we were doing, and between him and the club, a new deal was agreed, and he stayed until he went in the summer.”
Tierney does look the goods so far, despite new club and injury lay-off.
And to think I wanted nothing to do with Rodgers. Shows how much I know!
He has one of the greatest Twitter accounts of all time https://twitter.com/DeludedBrendan
How many of you would take Brendan Rodgers if Emery is gone by Christmas?
Brendan has achieved the Goldilocks effect.
Liverpool – too big
Celtic – too small*
Leicester – Just right
Arsenal’s too big for him. His ego demands that he is the main man.
*Celtic obvs a massive club. But their national division isn’t great and they can’t realistically get anywhere in the Champions League.
He was within a Steven Gerrard slip up from winning the title with Liverpool. It’s true he’s a bit annoying and self-absorbed but he is a decent football manager who gets the British game. His record at Swansea, Liverpool, Celtic and now Leicester speaks for itself. Yes, we could possibly do better than a Brendan Rodgers, but I would take him in a heartbeat if we sacked Unai Emery.
Those teeth though.
And that self portrait in his office ….
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/liverpool/9529661/Liverpool-fly-on-the-wall-documentary-reveals-manager-Brendan-Rodgers-methods-and-philosophy.html
He lost 6-1 to Stoke once!
How about his record at Watford and Reading?
At this point I have to sadly say I will take Big Sam over this clown we have at our club. Anyone….
Finally!!!!
Even David Moyes?
Wenger caretaker manager …??
Give Wenger a 5 year contract!
Every time there’s an 8-2 on the likes it makes me shudder…
I have to say, as a coach Rodgers certainly does impress. Ignoring Celtic (big fish in a small pond…hard to fail), he’s done very well at both Liverpool and Leicester.
My issue with Rodgers mostly comes down to his character. He seems like he has quite the ego. Do we really want him rocking up with his little envelope trick again? On the other hand, is that any worse than Emery’s 5 captains nonsense?
Honestly, I wouldn’t mind Ancelotti if things at Napoli continue to go wrong. An absolute gent and he’d take our game up a notch or two.
We may be in the shit but I believe we can dream bigger than Brendan. There’s a lot of managers out there. And most of them don’t look like self important sharks.
Arteta surely?
Were it not for his general air of smugness and his big shiny teeth you’d have to say Rodgers would be a good man for Arsenal now. He seems to get his teams playing the right way and gets good results. Not sure I could ever like him as much as he likes himself though.
I had asked this question once before here but didn’t get any reply. Why exactly do people not like Rodgers? As a foreign viewer, I’ve only watched his teams play randomly, mostly when they played Arsenal or on some other random occasions when I tuned into a match accidentally. I always liked the way they played. He believes in fast, aggressive football. Not sure if he is tactically good, but he does seem to have the right playing philosophy to me. And he did quite well with the Liverpool squad to be honest (barring that one season when he was… Read more »
@rohit It’s less to do with the football his team’s play, and more about his tendancy to come across a bit of a pranny sometimes.
Off topic but how many sleeps until our manager leaves please?
This amounts to treason 😀
No, this is akin to removing a corrupt government official.
The state (or club, in our case) is what must be protected, not the figure who is causing harm to the entity they represent.
If my pre-match prediction for tomorro is right, I’m thinking three…
Sign him in 2016 and kill the development of Kolasinac? No thanks!
Kola arrived summer of 2017
I think ricky is being sarcastic?
I’m very excited about Tierney. Let’s hope he doesn’t end up thinking he made a mistake coming here.
Tierney isn’t the only one I’m worried about…surely the likes of Auba/Laca/Guen/Bellerin will be not only be in demand, but may also questions their futures if things continue.
Not if we continue playing as we are. It’s hardly a shop window right now. Things are bad for everyone. We need change for so many reasons.
even if Emery gets sacked i have already lost faith in this board…they are too timid towards obvious decisions…nothing has changed on that front….for God’s sake this is not legend Wenger that can drag on for so many reasons…for God’s sake this is bloody Emery
Why does this board look so clueless??
Leicester do us a huge favour and be remembered in our history for saving us from more mockery