Arsenal are ready to challenge the decision to put Kieran Tierney in self isolation after it emerged that the defender returned a positive test in August and developed antibodies.
On Wednesday afternoon the SFA announced that Stuart Armstrong had tested positive with Tierney and Ryan Christie served with self isolation orders for 14 days which rules them out of their club matches on October 17.
Arsenal will play Manchester City that day with the London side furious at the situation after trusting their £25m defender with the SFA.
Either Ian Maxwell can’t ensure the safety of players within the SFA bubble or the track and trace system is flawed with Tierney insisting in a club statement that he maintained social distancing.
If there is no satisfactory outcome Arsenal have the option to become very fussy over Tierney’s future availability for international football.
The Sun reports:
Now the ex-Celtic hero’s at the heart of a determined fight by Arsenal to be available for their Premier League game against Man City at the Etihad on October 17.
Gunners boss Mikael Arteta – who himself tested positive last March – was left furious after Wednesday’s shock SFA announcement Tierney was having to isolate for 14-days due to him and Celtic’s Ryan Christie being regarded as ‘close contacts’ of Stuart Armstrong who tested positive while all three were together at the Scotland camp in Edinburgh.
That left the defender facing up to missing the City match plus almost certainly the opening Europa League group tie against Rapid Vienna in Austria on the 22nd.
Yet, Tierney had produced THREE negative tests in the week leading up to the stunning news all three players were out of the crunch euro play-off against Israel.
After their surprised and frustrated statement on Wednesday it’s unlikely that Celtic will take any further action over what is basically a 14 day suspension on Christie.