Brendan Rodgers hoping Arsenal’s Kieran Tierney will rejoin Celtic in days

Brendan Rodgers has confirmed for the first time that Celtic have agreed a deal to re-sign Kieran Tierney from Arsenal. With a free transfer in place for the summer, Celtic hope to be able to bring Tierney back to Glasgow before this transfer window closes.

Celtic sold Tierney to Arsenal in 2019 for £25m, the left-back having come through the youth ranks at the Scottish champions. Speculation never really disappeared that Tierney would return to Celtic; those stories intensified after it became clear Arsenal would not take up the option to extend his contract at the end of this campaign.

Related: Amorim and Rashford no longer on speaking terms at Manchester United

Rodgers had been reluctant to address the Tierney issue until the eve of the Champions League match against Aston Villa. There he said “ideally” Tierney would move north in the coming days. “He is still, at this moment, an Arsenal player,” Rodgers said. “We are agreed that it will definitely take place in the summer. If we can do it before that, then great.”

Pressed on the likelihood of a January switch for Tierney, possibly on loan, Rodgers said: “I don’t know. We have prepared that for the summer and I don’t want to speak too much on it [because] with the greatest of respect he is not a Celtic player here and now. But if we were able to do it, of course we would like to but that is not in our control at this moment in time.”

Celtic’s need for Tierney this month has intensified after the departure of Álex Valle. The 20-year-old had been on loan in Glasgow for the first half of the season but has been recalled by Barcelona. Valle is now expected to join Como. “He is in Barcelona at the moment and will probably be heading out to another team,” Rodgers said.

“He made something like 20 appearances for us, played in some very important games and made his Champions League debut. So we are disappointed that he has left.”

Celtic also arrived in Birmingham minus the injured Cameron-Carter Vickers. Daizen Maeda is suspended after his red card against Young Boys last week, with striking options for Rodgers limited further by the sale of Kyogo Furuhashi to Rennes.