Kieran Tierney: ‘ I’d happily stay at Celtic all my career’
● Left- back is flattered by interest but ‘ every chance’ he’ll stay at Celtic for good
Kieran Tierney says there is “ever y chance” he will stay at Celtic for the rest of his career and revealed he would have happily signed an even longer contract than the new six- year deal he agreed with the Scottish champions this week.
The 20- year-old Scotland international, hailed as one of the best left- backs in British football by his club manager Brendan Rodgers, has been monitored closely for some time now by a host of leading English Premier League sides.
Manchester United and Tottenham are among Tierney’s admirers and Celtic have ensured they would be able to command an optimum fee for their prize asset if he was to be lured south of the border.
But boyhood Celtic supporter Tierney, whose new deal runs until the summer of 2023, insists he would be content to remain a one- club man for as long as he plays the game.
“Yeah, there is ever y chance that could happen,” he said. “I hope so. I’ve been here, in the system at Celtic, for 13 years already and that’s a long time. There is no doubt about it, I could be[ a one-club man ]. We will see what happens. I hope I can stay here as long as I can and keep playing for Celtic. I am in no rush to leave. I think everybody can see that from me signing a long- term deal. I am very happy at Celtic. It is football, you never know where a career is going to take you. But I am happy just now.
“I had no doubts about signing a long- term deal. I wish it was longer. It’s brilliant for me and my family. I’ m buzzing, everyone is buzzing. It’ s a great feeling, the same as it was when I signed my previous contract last year.
“It’s like any other deal – if you are doing well, they reward you with a new one. So I’m very happy.
“They don’t need to give you another one, especially when you’ve got almost four years left on the one you’ve got. Fair play to Celtic, it’s good for both parties. Everyone is happy.”
Tierney admits he is flattered by the constant speculation linking him with major clubs in England but does not regard it as a distraction.
“It’s good, there are no negatives about it,” he added. “It’s a compliment if there are big teams watching you. It’s not something that I need to block out. It’s there. It’s a good thing. I’m flattered by the names you hear but I’m loving it at Celtic and enjoying every minute.”
Tierney broke into the Celtic first team under Ronny Deila’ s management in 2015 and has since gone from strength to strength during Rodgers’ tenure.
“He[ Rodgers] has been brilliant for me ,” said Tierney. “To sign two new contracts under hi min a year-and-abit is unreal. The faith he put in me right from the start was amazing. I had only played one full season at first- team level and he could have brought in someone more experienced for the Champions League when he arrived, so I have a lot to thank him for.”
No-one who has witnessed Kie ran Tierney’ s stellar progress for Celtic and Scotland over the past two years would dispute he deserves every penny of the luc rative new six- year contract he signed this week.
Anyone who has even briefly made the 20- year-old’ s acquaintance during that period will be equally confident his burgeoning status as one of British football’s brightest young talents will not go to his head. Tierney is the very definition of grounded, as polite and well-mannered off the pitch as he is tenacious and dynamic on it.
He shrug sands miles selfdeprecatingly when asked if he has thought about rewarding himself with a new car or some other material symbol of the enhanced terms he agreed with the Scottish champions.
“Not really ,” said Tierney. “As soon as I got my last contract [ in the summer of 2016], I bought a house for my mum and dad. That was the one thing I always wanted to do.
“I still live at home with them – I’ll be there for a few years yet. I can’t do anything for myself yet! We still live in Motherwell, a couple of minutes from where we lived before.
“It keeps me grounded in some ways, living under the same roof as your mum and dad. They are still in charge. My mum still tells me off for leaving dishes in my room or not bringing my washing down stairs. I don’ t plan on moving out for a good few years yet.
“I try not to get big-headed, so hopefully they don’t have to ever bring me back down to earth. I’ve got them, as well as a lot of good friends, who would tell me if I ever got out of line or to o big- time. Most of my friends are apprentices at their various jobs and still living at home.”
Tierney’s appreciation of his good fortune and determination to ensure he continues to maximise his potential as a football er also stems from periods in Celtic’ sac a de my system when his prospects looked far less rosy.
“There was a time when I wasn’t getting a game here,” he r e ca l l ed . “At 14 or 1 5, we went to the school that Celtic send you to. It was at that stage when Scotland youth international recognition starts com- ing about. I never got picked for Scotland.
“A lot of times when you’re not in the Scotland squad at that age, you’re not really playing club football either. Times like that were very hard. It was getting near the end of the school term and a lot of the lads in our age group had heard about their contracts.
“Me and a couple of others hadn’t. I remember it was me and Aaron Comrie, who is now with St Johnstone and I will hopefully be playing against on Saturday. Neither of us heard anything until very, very late on.
“We got a deal in the end but the others got a longer- term deal. They got three- year deals at the start and we got one year. At times like that, you are looking at other options, whether it is to go away working or try and find another team. So youth football wasn’t all plain sailing for me. For a good few years, I wasn’t getting a game.
“But it made me work harder than ever, just getting that one- year deal. I was more hungry to get a new deal with Celtic, try and get on the same deal as my team-mates and try to get game time.
“It’s harder to get game time at that age if you are not growing fast like the other guys who play your position. But that is why I am so grateful for my family because it is times like that when you really need them and they were great.
“I was doing gym work and football training but it was the way I was doing it. I was making sure that I was trying to run more than anyone else and be the best I could be but at that age there is only a certain amount that you can do otherwise you get wee injuries.
“It probably was a worry, because I was quite slight. People grow between 14 and 16 at different rates and it does seem to be the bigger, more physical players who are in the team. It is not always right but I just knew I had to work hard. I still think even now that I need to work on my upper body strength.”
While it makes Tierney rel-
ish his current success at Celtic all the more, he admits he seldom finds the opportunity to reflect on just how far he has come.
“I don’t really have any time – it’s just game after game after game just now ,” he added. “It’s high pressure, i t’s mentally and physically hard. You don’ t get too much time to think about anything other than your next day’s training or game.”
Tierney’s top- level education continued on Tuesday when he jousted impressively with Dutch winger Arjen Robben during C el tic’ s2-1Ch am pions League defeat by Bayern Munich. “We didn’t win so you can’t be too happy but I gave it my all which is all that you can ask,” he said. “I tried to make it hard for him, get close to him and I gave it my best.
“You learn a lot in these games. Even just their fitness – it is hard to keep up to their tempo because they are playing at that tempo ever y week. For years they have been playing like that and for me being so young, to play against the top players like them in t he Champions League will benefit me.”