Celtic thought they had their new Tierney, now he's already left...

Although the January transfer market is still a few months away from opening, Celtic has already been mentioned as

a possible target for a former player.

According to recent reports, Kieran Tierney, an Arsenal left-back, has prioritised getting back to Parkhead before the

season’s second half.

According to the outlet, the Gunners are willing to let the Scotland international go on loan in order to get him back

to Glasgow, although the Hoops are reportedly mulling a move for him.

Tierney had a fantastic career at Celtic before leaving to accept a £25 million contract with the Premier League’s

biggest teams in the summer of 2019.

He won everything Scotland had to offer in a staggering 170 outings, including five Scottish Premiership crowns.

The Bhoys had previously signed Boli Bolingoli to replace him, but as we all know, things didn’t exactly work out that way.

as anticipated.

How much Celtic spent on Boli Bolingoli

The Scottish giants swooped to sign the Belgian defender for a reported fee of £3m on a £780k-per-season salary

from Austrian side Rapid Vienna to take over from the academy graduate in the 2019/20 campaign.

In 25 Bundesliga games the previous season, he had two goals and two assists, but he had also lost 53 percent of his

duels in the division.

Notwithstanding his physical limitations, Celtic made the bold decision to spend £3 million on the full-back, who

expressed his desire to “emulate” Tierney’s achievements at left-back for the Scottish Premiership team.

During his first season at Parkhead, he made 28 appearances across all competitions. However, due to a knee injury,

only played 14 times in the Premiership and only contributed two assists.

Unfortunately, Bolingoli was never able to kick on after his first season with the Scottish giants, after falling behind

Greg Taylor in the pecking order, and that was thanks in no small part to a major error he made in 2020.

Prior to a match against Kilmarnock at the beginning of the 2020–21 season, the £3 million failure flew to Spain,

where he was supposed to spend 14 days in isolation because of quarantine regulations in place at the time.

Rather than reveal the truth, he kept his trip hidden and participated in the match after practicing with his

teammates all week. Celtic’s next two games were suspended as a result

Boli Bolingoli’s declining value
Date	Market value
July 2019	£2.9m
April 2020	£2m
May 2021	£1.8m
December 2021	£1.2m
November 2022	£752k
December 2023 – present	£418k
Valuations via Transfermarkt

The dud was then sent out on loan to Basaksehir in Turkey a month later, where he played 18 games, and later

returned to play two matches under Ange Postecoglou in the 2021/22 campaign, before joining UFA on loan.

Following a more than £2 million decline in his Transfermarkt value, Bolingoli signed for KV Mechelen in the

summer of 2022 for an undisclosed sum. At 29, he is currently rated at just £418k and plays for Standard Liege.

Ultimately, he failed to replicate Tierney’s success at Celtic and let the team down with his actions in the summer of

2020. For this reason, the £3 million transfer price and the £780,000 in salaries he received in his first year in

Scotland were squandered.