Arsenal left-back Kieran Tierney now has a date set for his injury comeback, though it appears he could miss the start of pre-season.
Tierney made 25 appearances for Arsenal last season, but his campaign was cut short by a knee injury sustained in the gym in early April.
The Scottish international defender missed the final two months of the Premier League season, and he’s yet to return to the training pitches.
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Tierney was initially hoping to make it back in time for Scotland’s World Cup qualifying play-off against Ukraine on Wednesday, but that wasn’t possible in the end.
The Scottish Sun now report that Tierney’s potential on-field comeback has been pencilled in for July 8th, and he’s expected to be back in training by the end of June.
That may see him miss the opening week of pre-season training, as Mikel Arteta’s team are set to return to London Colney in the week commencing June 27th.
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The good news is that it doesn’t look as if Tierney is set to miss any actual matches.
The Athletic report that Arsenal’s first pre-season fixture will be against 1. FC Nürnberg on July 8th as part of a short training camp in Germany. The club are hoping to have their first-choice left-back available again by then.
Arsenal were reliant on Nuno Tavares towards the end of last season, as their only option in Tierney’s position.
The 22-year-old summer signing struggled for consistency in his first campaign, increasing the desire to get Tierney fully fit and firing again.
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The return of European football - albeit in the Europa League - has also made it all the more important for Arsenal to have all their left-back options available.
With more games to go around next season, Arteta needs to be able to rotate. It will be a relief to see Tierney return.
Topics: Arsenal, Kieran Tierney, Football
Dan Critchlow