The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Tierney ‘waiting for perfect 10’
Highly-rated defender not going anywhere just yet, claims MacLeod
Murdo MacLeod admits Celtic will one day have to wave goodbye to Kieran Tierney – but not until he has helped the club rack up 10 in a row.
Atletico Madrid have become the latest major club to be credited with an interest in the Parkhead left-back, with the Spanish giants sending scouts to Scotland to watch him in action.
MacLeod played alongside former Hoops favourite Paul McStay but reckons there is no chance Tierney will play out his entire career at Celtic Park like his old team-mate.
However, he does believe the 20-year-old – who signed a deal last year tying him to the double treble winners until 2023 – will only listen to offers to prise him away from the east end of Glasgow once Brendan Rodgers’ men have written another historic chapter in the club’s record books.
MacLeod – who was number two to former boss Wim Jansen when Rangers’ bid of 10 straight titles was halted back in 1998 – said: “At some point I do think he will be lured away – but not yet.
“Right now he is desperate for 10 in a row. He wants to be here for that because that will become such a big part of the history of the football club.
“He can sit there and play another three years with Celtic and still be a young man at the end of it – he can secure his place in the club’s history books then think about moving on.”
Bournemouth have also been linked with Tierney while Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho is understood to be keeping tabs on the Scotland defender.
And MacLeod is just pleased to see Scottish talent once again being noticed by big English clubs after years of indifference.
“Going back two or three years ago, teams from England wouldn’t even bother coming up to Scotland to watch the Scottish kids playing,” he said.
“Now all of a sudden Kieran has opened the eyes of everyone down south and even European clubs too.”
According to reports, Celtic are poised to smash their own transfer record to land loan striker Odsonne Edouard on a £10 million permanent deal from Paris St Germain.