Newcastle £30m transfer twist - shock blow for Celtic and Aston Villa after St James’ Park visit

Arsenal want £30million for Tierney this summer with the former Celtic left-back falling out of favour under Mikel Arteta this season. Newcastle have been tipped to sign the 25-year-old with The Times reporting the Scottish international was ‘expected’ to join the club over Aston Villa.

Now it has been reported that Manchester City have entered the race and are willing to do a slightly unorthodox deal that would see Celtic miss out on a potential sell-on fee for their former player.

Tierney joined Arsenal from Celtic for £25million in 2019 and has since played 121 times for the club, scoring five goals and registering 14 assists. But the arrival of Oleksandr Zinchenko last summer has seen Tierney’s first-team opportunities limited to just six Premier League starts in 2022-23.

The left-back recently visited St James’ Park with Arsenal where he came off the bench to replace Oleksandr Zinchenko on the hour mark for his 19th substitute appearance of the Premier League season. He was able to help The Gunners see out a 2-0 win and become only the second team to win away at St James’ Park this season.

With Zinchenko currently injured, Tierney is set to get an opportunity in Arsenal’s final two matches of the campaign.

Kieran Tierney transfer twist as Manchester City enter the race

New reports have claimed Manchester City are interested in signing Tierney from Arsenal but don’t intend on paying The Gunners a fee. Instead, they will look to enter a swap deal that would see Joao Cancelo join Arsenal, according to Football Transfers.

Cancelo, 28, has spent the second half of the 2022-23 season on loan at Bayern Munich and is set to return to Man City in the summer after the Bundesliga club turned down the option to buy the Portuguese international.

Such a deal would come as a blow to Celtic, who have a 15% sell-on clause for Tierney. A direct swap deal would see the Scottish outfit miss out on a potential seven-figure pay-out.

Still, The Gazette understands that Newcastle remains the most likely destination for Tierney this summer with Eddie Howe’s side identifying the full-back as a top target.