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By • Jamie Duff.
When a young Kieran Tierney made his first competitive appearance for his beloved Celtic at the age of 17, little did he know 3 years later he would be wearing the captain’s armband and scoring a 40 yard screamer in a 5-0 demolition of Kilmarnock. “Excellent”, “a warrior” and “a true leader” are just some of the superlatives shown towards Tierney at this early start of his career. A Celt from birth, Kieran was born in the Isle of Man but moved to Wishaw, Scotland at the age of 10 months. At the age of 7 he was snapped up by his beloved club and flourished in their academy system, progressing through the ranks at a fast rate. Everyone around the club could see they had a future star in their hands and he soon began to show exactly what was seen in him. Tierney’s name first came to the public’s mouth back when he was just 16, when he managed to score a spectacular goal from the edge of his own penalty box in a youth match against Hearts. The boy was widely tipped to soon break into the first team, and when Celtic’s first choice left back and Honduras international Emilio Izzaguire began to age, he did exactly that. In 2015 Tierney made his debut and everyone associated with Celtic football club knew exactly what they were getting; a future star. A string of impressive performances resulted in Tierney being one of the first names on his manager Ronny Deila’s team sheet. However in 2016, when ex-Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers was announced as manager of Celtic, many worried that Tierney’s efforts with Deila would go unnoticed, and Rodgers would opt for experience in this position. However this was clearly not the case, as Tierney retained his place in the starting eleven and began to cement it more and more. Rodgers clearly noticed his talent straight away, and went on to state that Tierney is ‘born to be the captain of this club’.
Kieran Tierney back on the podium lifting the Scottish Cup after being taken off with a broken jaw.
Not only was it the green side of Glasgow getting excited about this young prodigy, the whole nation soon started to take notice of the young lad’s performances. With Scotland’s ‘golden generation’ where we saw the likes of Kenny Daglish and Denis Law performing at the highest level well in the past, the ‘Tartan Army’ hasn’t had much to smile about in recent years. But many have tipped young Kieran to be the next Scottish super-star. Already capped 8 times by the national side despite being only 20 years old, Tierney has also been noticed for his immense versatility, and regularly starts on the right flank of defence for Scotland, him admitting it his weaker side. This sort of commitment and confidence at such a young age is clearly something special, and a lot of football’s big names feel the same about this mercurial talent. Tierney has received rave reviews from ex-footballer now pundits Stan Collymore, Jamie Redknapp and Graeme Souness to name a few. Former Premier League golden boot winner Chris Sutton claimed Tierney was “Better than most full-backs in the Premier League”.
Bleeds Celtic’ pictured above is Tierney as a child, training with Celtic icon Shunsuke Nakamura.
Since breaking into the Celtic first team, Tierney has made 57 appearances, scored 2 goals, won 2 SPL titles, one Scottish cup and also won 2 Scotland young player of the year accolades. But many may be asking, where will his career path take him? Tierney, who is well known to be a massive Celtic fan would surely love to be one day the captain of his beloved team. However, with many Premier League teams already showing a interest, a big money move may tempt him away before he gets the chance to hold this responsibility. Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers has insisted they are under no pressure to sell, but the defender is widely expected to end up at a European giant one day in his future career. Celtic fans will be hoping to hold on to their young star, as they aim for a 7th consecutive SPL title.
”Future Captain”- Tierney has already captained Celtic at the young age of 20