‘Home boy’ Kieran Tierney admits he has still never been to central London and is struggling to adjust after move from Glasgow to Arsenal
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KIERAN TIERNEY has admitted he's had to learn to fend for himself as he settles into his new life away from Glasgow.
The Scottish international full-back has quickly adapted on the pitch in the limited minutes he's played since his £25million summer switch from Celtic to Arsenal.
But off the pitch the transition has not been quite so smooth for the home-loving 22-year-old.
“Coming to London has been a huge change for me,” Tierney said after his starring role in Thursday’s 4-0 Europa League win against Standard Liege.
“I’m a home boy who has always stayed with my parents and now I’ve come to a new country and a massive city.
“I’m living on my own for the first time and it’s not been great. I need to cook every night and I’m still learning how to do that. But I’ll get there.
“People back home ask me ‘what’s London like?’ But I have no idea because I’ve never been into the city.
“I train, I work hard, I go home to recover and I train the next day. It’s just a simple life and I put everything into football.
“Signing for Arsenal was the hardest decision of my life, leaving the club I had been at for 15 years of my life.
Arsenal have shown great faith in me to put in a record-breaking bid and I’m delighted to be here.”
Kieran Tierney
“The transfer was on and off all summer but it finally came through on the last day of the window and it’s a great move for me.
“Arsenal have shown great faith in me to put in a record-breaking bid and I’m delighted to be here.”
Tierney became the most expensive Scottish footballer of all time when he completed his £25million move and has already earned comparisons to former Arsenal left-back Ashley Cole from excited Gunners supporters.
But the level-headed defender is not getting carried away after just two appearances for his new club.
His Arsenal debut was delayed until last week by the hernia operation he underwent in the summer and he is quick to play down talk of adding to the eight major titles he won in four seasons at Celtic.
But having already played against Barcelona, Bayern Munich, PSG and Manchester City in the Champions League, he certainly isn’t going to be overawed by playing in front of 60,000 at the Emirates.
He added: “Arsenal is a massive club and it deserves to be in the Champions League.
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“We know that is the ambition of the club and its supporters and we are all in it together to achieve that target.
“We have the ability and the potential to get into the top four and getting up to the standard required at Arsenal has been a great lesson for me.
“It has taken me a few weeks to get up to speed with the other boys. They are world class players and it has been brilliant for me to learn off them.”