Talking to Tierney is top priority for the boss
Lennon’s pledge to help ‘unsettled’ star deal with collapse of Arsenal move
if Arsenal are going to meet our valuation. So it is as you were.
‘That may be difficult for Kieran to get his head around — or he comes back to the fold and gets on with things.
‘I’ll have to speak to him about it and I’m sure the club will as well. But it may rumble on as well, I don’t know.
‘Arsenal might be the first of many who raise their head above the parapet. Until the window closes, we can’t relax and I’m sure Kieran can’t either.
‘I know, having been in that position myself, how unsettling it is. There’s no question about that.
‘Sometimes your mind races away with you. You try and tell him to just stay in the present and let things take their natural course but it is difficult when you are young and ambitious.’
Arsenal had a £15m move rejected last month before a revised offer, heavily contingent on add-ons and Champions League incentives, met the same fate.
Matters came to a head on Monday and, asked what advice he will offer to help Tierney come to terms with events, Lennon added: ‘Just let it happen if it is going to happen. If it doesn’t, then try and re-engage yourself to doing what you are good at, which is being around Celtic.
‘He is still doing his rehab, so it has been difficult for him from that aspect as well. He is frustrated by the injury and the pain he is still getting from the pelvic area.
‘He is grounded, he has done a lot in his career already. But you still have to remember he is only 22. So he hasn’t really grown into his clothes yet, if you know what I mean.
‘Until you get to 25, then there is still a boyishness about you at times.’
Plagued by pelvic problems, Tierney has played just nine games in 2019. Urging the defender to get himself fit and let events take care of themselves, Lennon added: ‘That’s the first step he needs to take before anything else happens. He will be happier in his own mind once he does that. He is trying his best to do that at the minute.
‘He is not one of those fly-bynight players who comes in and is mercenary. Kieran has been in the system and you know what the club means to him.
‘It would be a huge wrench to him and his family if he were to go and he has made that pretty clear.
‘Again, we are talking hypothetically here. The deal, as far as I’m aware, is not happening. We are delighted about that, obviously, and it’s just a question of appeasing his mind now.’
Celtic fans have accused Arsenal of low-balling Scotland’s champions after the Gunners spent £27m on 18-year-old French defender William Saliba before loaning him back to St Etienne.
Reluctant to offer anything like that for Tierney, Lennon stopped short of accusing the Londoners of disrespect, but admits his valuation of the Scot is even higher than the quoted price of £25m.
‘We were quite firm on our valuation, it wasn’t met,’ he said. ‘We’ve got Kieran on a long-term contract, so we have no reason to settle for less than we’re asking for.
‘So whether their bid is seen as disrespectful, Arsenal might not see it that way. I wouldn’t call it that — but I would call it not meeting our valuation. It’s as simple as that.
‘He is one of our best players and you don’t want to sell your best players lightly or short-change yourself.
‘I think we are in a position where we don’t need to do that.
‘Me, personally? I would have held out for more.
‘It is a big fee for a Scottish club, not a big fee for an English club — but we are not in that market.
‘I think we are right to value the player based on what we believe in. It’s simple business. Why should we take less for one of our best assets?’
NEIL LENNON has vowed to help Kieran Tierney get his head around the collapse of a life-changing move to Arsenal.
The Gunners have balked at Celtic’s £25million price tag after two bids fell short, while an offer from Napoli has failed to materialise.
The 22-year-old will now stay put at Parkhead unless an acceptable late bid arrives in the final weeks of the transfer window.
Currently recuperating from a double hernia operation, Lennon admits Tierney was ‘unsettled’ by the prospect of a lifechanging move.
Admitting he will now hold discussions with the Scotland international, the Parkhead boss believes the Arsenal move is dead.
‘As far as I am aware, it is finished,’ said Lennon. ‘I don’t know