Arsenal and Scotland man Kieran Tierney has opened up on his first year in London.
The defender hasn’t had it easy since moving down to Arsenal in 2019, a hip problem keeping him out of action for most of the 2019/20 campaign. He only returned to the Scotland squad in September after almost two years out of national team involvement.
It’s been tough for the natural left-back and he is well aware of that. Tierney says it’s been one of the hardest periods of his life so far.
“The physios have looked after me and got me right,” said Tierney (Fotboll Podcast). “That’s me feeling 100% now. I think lockdown was the best things to happen to me as it gave me extra time to prepare.
“Since I’ve came back, I feel fit and I have played a lot of minutes. It’s probably been the most challenging year of my life, it’s challenged me in mental ways that I have never had before.
“With injuries on top of that, there’s a lot of things that’s went against me. But after lockdown I started to see the light.”
Now Tierney is back to being a regular for club and country, albeit usually deployed on the left of defence in a 3-5-2 system. He says he’s enjoying life under Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta.
“An understanding of football. Honestly, the way he understands the game, the way he talks about the game has made me see it in a different way, made me understand different aspects that I’ve never understood before,” Tierney said of Arteta.
“Different tactical points of view, a new way of playing, a new way of working. I’m loving every single minute of it. That’s one thing I’d say, I feel like I’m learning about football more than I ever have.”