NEWCASTLE UNITED’S hopes of signing Kieran Tierney on loan are set to be heavily influenced by the injury status of Arsenal full-back Jurrien Timber.
Newcastle’s recruitment team are hoping to sign a defender before the transfer window closes, with Eddie Howe having confirmed on Friday that he is determined to make one more addition before the end of the month.
Tierney is a long-term target, with the Magpies hierarchy having held previous discussions with their Arsenal counterparts over the Scotland international.
Newcastle would like to sign Tierney on a season-long loan to provide additional competition at left-back, and potentially enable Dan Burn to feature as a centre-half if required, and had been encouraged by the 26-year-old’s absence from Mikel Arteta’s matchday squad for Arsenal’s opening game of the Premier League season against Nottingham Forest.
Arteta handed a competitive debut to Timber, who joined the Gunners from Ajax earlier this summer, and named Takehiro Tomiyasu on the substitutes’ bench.
However, Timber picked up a knock in the first half of the game, and while he was sent back out for the second half, he pulled up again moments after the interval holding his right knee and calf, and was eventually forced to hobble off.
Arteta has admitted there are concerns over the extent of the damage Timber suffered, with the Dutchman due to be assessed over the course of the next 24 hours.
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If Timber is set for a lengthy absence, Arteta will be much more reluctant to allow Tierney to leave on loan this month given he is the only real alternative to Tomiyasu, who replaced Timber in the 50th minute at the weekend.
“I need to speak with the doctors and understand what happened,” said Arteta. “The doctors looked at him and they were happy for him to continue, he was as well.
“Straight away in the first action of the second half, he made a movement and it was a bit funny. We took him out straight after, and now we have to assess him and see what he has.”
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