Three minutes after the announcement that he had joined Arsenal Kieran Tierney was thrown under a bus by Celtic with the first instalment of his record transfer fee barely cleared.
At 4.48pm Arsenal released a video in which the Wishaw bhoy made his gratitude to Celtic crystal clear, he was made by the club and had developed from ball boy into a record transfer fee of £25m.
Three minutes later, with supporters divided over the departure Celtic made a statement making it very clear that the transfer had been pushed through by the player with Neil Lennon rolled out to explain the matter rather than Peter Lawwell.
If Lennon had had any say in the matter Tierney would still be a Celtic player with only a transfer fee closer to Aaron Wan-Bissaka levels rather than Ollie McBurnie’s fee prising the player away from Glasgow.
At 4.51 today the Celtic website carried the following statement:
We did all we could to keep Kieran at Celtic. While the club did not need or wish to sell Kieran, this was an opportunity which Kieran very much wished to pursue and with the club having received a significant offer, we have agreed to the transfer.
Kieran has been a big part of the club for a number of years, coming through our Academy structure and becoming a key first team player of real quality. He has made a significant contribution to Celtic and we thank him very much for all he has given to the club and, of course, we wish him very well for the future in his career.
Celtic Manager Neil Lennon said: “This is an opportunity Kieran wanted to take and while we will be sad to see him leave the club, we wish Kieran all the very best for the future.
Poor this by Celtic. Sticking the knife into the boy! Hope he runs riot down there
— Brian (@BrianG1986) August 8, 2019
Now hand Lennon another £15m to strengthen the STARTING 11????
— Dom Schiavone (@Shiv1888) August 8, 2019
Time to open that biscuit tin bhoys????????????????Good luck KT
— BoltonBhoy74???? (@scott_melville) August 8, 2019
Now replace him and invest that money into players please.
— Séan Walsh (@walshybhoy) August 8, 2019
They wont sign nobody fans sold diwn the swanny again
— kate dunbar (@katedunbar61) August 8, 2019
Having stated that there was no wish or need to sell the defender Celtic fans will look on with interest at how the unexpected £25m windfall is spent.
At the end of last August £20m was received for Moussa Dembele.
So far this summer the transfer business has been covered by the compensation fee received for Brendan Rodgers and the savings made from the cost of the old management team and around a dozen departing players from Dedryck Boyata and Mikael Lustig through to Dorus de Vries and Scott Allan.
