Scotland given encouraging update ahead of Nations League as return date set for star man
Scotland head coach Steve Clarke is set to receive another injury boost after Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta provided an encouraging update on the fitness of injury-plagued defender Kieran Tierney.
The 27-year-old left-back has not played a minute of football after being forced off during Scotland’s 1-1 draw with Switzerland at Euro 2024 with a serious hamstring injury, and has missed all four of Scotland’s Nations League fixtures this season.
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Hide AdTierney has two years left on his contract at the Emirates, but has not played for the club since the Community Shield match against Manchester City in summer 2023 after spending last season on loan to Spanish outfit Real Sociedad. He struggled with a series of niggling injuries in Spain too, though, which restricted him to just 26 appearances in La Liga.
Still a fan favourite with the North London outfit, the defender returned to Arsenal in the summer following Scotland’s exit from the European Championships in Germany, but has been unable to fight for his place in the squad after being ruled out of the first three months of the Gunners season.
However, the ex-Celtic man is now of the verge of making his long-awaited comeback, with Arsenal boss Arteta setting a rough timescale for his return. Ahead of Wednesday’s game against Preston North End, Arteta said the Scot is “looking really sharp” in training. "I think he’s quite close, he looks good,” said Arteta. “He hasn’t trained with the team yet, hopefully, he can do that in the next week or two.”
One of 10 absentees from the Nations League games against Croatia and Portugal, head coach Clarke has already been boosted by the return of John McGinn, Scott McKenna and Jack Hendry ahead of next month’s crucial clashes with Poland and Croatia. While the double-header will probably come to soon for Tierney, the news that he could soon be back on the grass will be a huge boost to the Scotland head coach.
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