Arsenal’s refusal to lower their price tag for Kieran Tierney could prevent the defender’s return to Celtic this summer, according to journalist Dean Jones.

The Scottish international has been linked with a move back to Parkhead but Jones says the Gunners won’t be reducing their demands, even though their valuation has already “put off” Newcastle:

“I think if Tierney did return to Celtic, he would be the biggest player at the club, and it’d be an unbelievable moment. I’m just not sure that they can get to that price point. Newcastle were put off by it, recently. and it doesn’t seem like Arsenal are going to budge.”

It has been suggested that Tierney’s asking price is between £30m and £35m, which is slightly more than the £25m that the Hoops sold the player for just under four years ago.

Reports claim that Brendan Rodgers’ side do have £30m to spend, following the sale of Jota to Al-Ittihad earlier this month, but it is hard to see the club spending all of their funds on one player.

The transfer fee won’t be the only issue for Celtic

According to Capology, Tierney is earning £110,000 a week, which is substantially more than the Hoops’ highest earner.

With that being the case, even a loan deal could prove to be problematic, especially if Arsenal demand that Celtic pay a significant portion of his wages.

From the purely financial point of view, there are plenty of obstacles, although many of those could be overcome if Tierney really pushes for a move back to Glasgow.

There is very little prospect of it happening at the moment but, if it were to happen this summer, it would likely take place in the last few days of the transfer window when Arsenal may decide to make him available for a more reasonable amount.