Pre-season thoughts: Kieran Tierney + Ben White and England
Morning all, an early Wednesday blog for you.
I watched a video of the players back at London Colney for pre-season training, and I was slightly surprised to see Kieran Tierney alive and well. It’s not that I expected him to be the opposite, it’s just I had assumed that the injury picked up at the Euros was such that he’d be out of sight for a while.
To be fair, he was just standing in a corridor with Martin Odegaard rather than doing sprints and stuff like some of the others, so he might not be 100% fit, but hopefully he’s not too far away. It’s such a shame for him that the opportunity of putting himself in the shop window at the Euros panned out the way it did. It was basically the worst possible outcome for him and for the club. He spoke beforehand about the likelihood of moving on, and it seems fairly clear Arsenal would accept his departure this summer if the right offer came in.
As I’ve said before, I think he’s a player who could do a job for lots of Premier League teams, but if you were in the market for a left-back, you’d be taking a risk with Tierney because of his injury record. There’s no sugar-coating it, unfortunately. Interested parties may weigh up a move for him and a similar player who may not have as much quality but a lot more in the column labelled ‘availability’, and go with that other option. If there is a club out there willing to take on the risk, chances are some of that would be mitigated by the offer they’d table to sign him in the first place.
Let’s see what happens with him, but the fact he’s active around the training ground could mean there’s a chance a departure before the end of the window hasn’t been completely scuppered by that injury. Beyond that, there’s not a lot else going on in the training ground footage, although I suppose it’s mildly interesting that Albert Stuivenberg was there given the various links to other jobs during last season. It doesn’t preclude him taking an opportunity at some point, but he’ll be Mikel’s right-hand man for now, and I’m curious to see if there might be any other additions to the coaching staff. For someone like Arteta, who is always seeking a little bit extra regardless of where it comes from, staff recruitment could be a way of achieving that.
Ben White was there, looking tanned (there’s a surprise), and in the wake of Gareth Southgate’s announcement that he has resigned as England manager, I saw some chatter about the possibility of him returning to the international set-up. On a purely selfish level, I hope it doesn’t happen, even if I think he clearly has a lot to offer the England team. The fact that he and Bukayo Saka work so well together at Arsenal has to be a factor, and that relationship is something any sensible England manager would want at their disposal.
With Graham Potter one of the favourites, a man who knows Ben White from their time together at Brighton, the door could well be open. Especially if the likes of Kyle Walker and Kieran Trippier call time on their international careers (even if they don’t, it’s not difficult to imagine whoever the new England manager is saying ‘Time gentleman, please … and time for you too, Walker’).
Having played through a lot of last season with a knee problem, the last thing any Arsenal fan wants is for Ben White to be burdened with more playing time, but perhaps the depth at Arsenal will allow for that if he does decide to return to England duty. We have Jurrien Timber fit again, and I think he’s a player we signed for the right-hand, and then realised he could do a job on the left. Takehiro Tomiyasu is there too, and if – and it remains a bit of an if right now – we add Riccardo Calafiori to the squad, he is obviously going to be a presence on the left, meaning those other options for the right make that area of the pitch truly deep (and massively competitive too).
I still think there’s a chance White might decide to stick to club football only, but now that Steve Holland is gone along with Southgate, the reason Ben White chose not to play for England is gone. Previously he had talked about how proud he was to represent his country, so it’s one to keep an eye on.
Right, let’s leave it there for this morning. Have a great Wednesday folks. Look after each other.
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