Everton Face Fight to Land Celtic Star Kieran Tierney
By Tom Power
Blues Square Off With Premier League Rivals for Celtic Star’s Signature
Everton face a massive task to land reported left-back target Kieran Tierney ahead of their Premier League rivals.
The Celtic defender, who is on the Blues’ radar according to the Liverpool Echo, is thought to be valued at around £25m.
That wouldn’t prove to be an obstacle for new manager Marco Silva and director of football Marcel Brands, who are backed by majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri’s deep pockets.
The problem, however, lies in the other clubs who may rival Everton for Tierney’s signature this summer.
Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur are also believed to be monitoring his situation in Scotland and could beat Everton to his signing if they make a move.
Silva will hope that the promise of regular first-team football would be enough to convince the 21-year-old that a Goodison Park switch would be the best move for him to make.
Tierney would battle it out with veteran Everton star Leighton Baines for the position in Silva’s team.
With Baines now aged 34, however, Tierney could make the full-back role on Merseyside his own in the coming seasons.
Tierney would face Luke Shaw and Ashley Young for a spot at left-back for United, while Danny Rose and Ben Davies would provide serious competition at Spurs.
It could well be in Tierney’s best interests, then, to consider heading to Everton if he wishes to test himself in the Premier League.
The Scottish international has turned out 130 times for Celtic since he made his first-team debut in April 2015.
The Celtic youth product has seven winners’ medals to his name too, with three Scottish Premiership titles, two Scottish Cups and two Scottish League Cups accrued during his time with Brendan Rodgers’ senior side.
Rodgers admitted that the Hoops would find it tough to rebuff any big-money moves for Tierney’s signature from Premier League clubs.
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And Everton will hope that a club-record fee for a full-back – and a Scotland international – could tempt Celtic to let Tierney depart.