Mikel Arteta insists Kieran Tierney is in Arsenal’s plans, praising the left-back’s performances in pre-season.

As speculation around Kieran Tierney’s future continues to circulate, Mikel Arteta is still publicly insisting that the defender has a part to play with Arsenal.

“He is obviously in our plans,” Arteta said on Tuesday night. “He came on and did really good in pre-season, not for the first [time], and this is what we want. To increase the level of competition in the team and raise the level of each individual.

“That is going to be a huge benefit for the team to get to another level.”

There’s definitely a sense that Tierney’s position in the Arsenal squad could be helped by the addition of Jurrien Timber on the other side.

In the 2022/23 campaign, Arsenal were pretty reliant on using Oleksandr Zinchenko as an inverted left-back, pushing up into midfield when the Gunners had possession.

That made things difficult for Tierney, who isn’t necessarily quite as suited to that role.

But with Timber capable of playing the inverted role on the other side, it’s effectively possible to flip the system.

Tierney can instead play a similar role to the one Ben White played last season, dropping into a back three and making better use of his defensive strengths, and operating more on the outside overlap when he moves upfield.

Fabrizio Romano reported this week that whilst Tierney’s situation has gone a little quiet, it remains one to watch later in the window.

Arsenal aren’t desperate to sell Tierney, but they’d consider a sale if a good offer arrives, so things could change quickly.

For the time being, Tierney is away on Arsenal’s pre-season tour, playing in matches, and it certainly doesn’t seem as if he’s trying to force a transfer.

“It’s not really up to me (my future),” Tierney said. “I’m happy, I’m working hard every day and getting minutes. I’m just trying to do as well as I can.

“No (I have not had conversations with Arteta).

“You can’t play every single game, every single season, every single year. I don’t expect that and I still made a lot of appearances last year.”