Kieran Tierney drops Celtic transfer clue as 'all new' Arsenal vision could freeze Brendan Rodgers out

It's a role he has earned rave reviews for before - and its return at Arsenal has provided a transfer clue surrounding Celtic hero Kieran Tierney.

His former club have been linked with a daring return bid for their academy product who has fallen behind Aleksandr Zinchenko in Mikel Arteta's pecking order. It's resulted in rumours of Glasgow and Newcastle but as seen on their pre-season tour of America, the Gunners boss is going in hard on inverted full-backs that come inside to create part of the midfield, while the other forms a three-man rearguard.

It's allowed Tierney to drop into the left-centre-back role when required, a position Steve Clarke regularly deploy him on Scotland duty. And it's a sign of how Arteta could yet make him an important part of his Arsenal plans for the Premier League season ahead, but Tierney admits it's taken some getting used to. He told The Athletic : “We’re working on it now a lot to allow them to get used to it, but they’re picking it up so quickly. They’re very intelligent players and you’ve seen how well they’ve done already.

“Last season, if I was playing, it was more inverted on the left but this year we can mix it up and do different things. Alex (Zinchenko) is the prime example of how to do it so, if you’re going to learn off anyone, it would be him.

“I’ve been learning off him and asking him questions but there are so many different ways of playing. The last few games, I haven’t been doing that. Different people work in different ways. I prefer to do it on the pitch.

"Video helps for sure, and even when you’re on the bench you watch when he goes inside, when he comes out. It’s all learning as it was genuinely all new to me. I had never played in the centre of the park before.