Kieran Tierney offered Arsenal hope as Steve Clarke draws Chelsea turnaround parallel

A Scottish full-back struggling for minutes at a big London club and pondering a move elsewhere.

Steve Clarke has been in that movie before. So if Kieran Tierney needs advice or guidance over the next few months, regarding his situation at Arsenal, he won’t have to look far. The Scotland manager has been there, done it and learned the lesson – albeit at Chelsea and not the Gunners.

Former Celtic star Tierney faces a major dilemma this summer. He’s on the verge of becoming a Premier League winner with Mikel Arteta’s side clear at the top – but can’t get a game. The arrival of Ukrainian star Oleksandr Zinchenko from Manchester City has limited his game time. That has alerted Newcastle and others who are keen to snare the 25-year-old for around £20million. Even in his heyday, Clarke wasn’t worth that kind of money. But he experienced a similar scenario as a player at Stamford Bridge in the late 1980s. He was out of the team, just as Chelsea were about to turn a corner under new owner Ken Bates, with new players arriving from abroad.

Clarke admits that, for a spell, his attitude wasn’t right. But he soon realised the opportunity he had at the club. A change in mentality – and later his position – meant he got to play with the likes of Ruud Gullit, Gianluca Vialli and Gianfranco Zola.

He also picked up a League Cup, FA Cup and European Cup Winners’ Cup with the Blues before retiring to become a coach. Clarke knows what Tierney will be going through sitting on Arsenal’s bench.

But ahead of next week’s Euro 2024 qualifiers, he’s warning the Scotland defender not to make rash decisions on his future. Clarke said: “It’s one of the things you have to deal with when you are playing at a top-level club. I had it myself when I was