Arsenal Have Opening Kieran Tierney Bid Rejected as Celtic Hold Out for £25m

​Celtic have turned down Arsenal's initial offer of £15m for their 22-year-old left back Kieran Tierney, as they are seeking £25m for the defender.

The Gunners are on the look out for defenders after conceding 51 league goals last season, with Tierney viewed as the ideal replacement for 33-year-old Nacho Monreal, who is out of contract this summer.

Despite reportedly only having a spending budget in the region of £45m, Arsenal are likely to return with a better offer in the coming days. 

The Sun have claimed that full-back Carl Jenkinson was offered as part of the deal, with youngsters Jordi Osei-Tutu, Emile Smith Rowe and Eddie Nketiah also presented as options for Celtic to consider to push the move through.

However, with Tierney still having four years remaining on his current contract, Celtic are in a strong bargaining position, and would prefer the extra money in order to allow their highly-regarded full back to leave.

Tierney has been a regular in the first team at Celtic for the past four seasons, becoming an integral part of the side that has won the domestic treble in each of the last three years.

However, he did have an interrupted campaign last season, struggling with a hip problem between December and February, before undergoing a double hernia operation at the end of the season - which he is currently recovering from.

Still, he has shown his importance to the Scottish champions in recent years, so it is understandable that Celtic are keen to keep hold of him and will not allow him to move to London cheaply.

As Arsenal work to a tight budget, removing high earners from the wage list is important in allowing them to assess who their realistic transfer targets are. Big-money earners such as Aaron Ramsey, Danny Welbeck and Petr Cech have departed, which could allow Unai Emery sufficient funds to finalise the Tierney deal.