Yahoo Sports Tierney will be Celtic player by summer - Rodgers
Brendan Rodgers has confirmed that Kieran Tierney will move to Celtic from Arsenal this summer at the latest - and that fellow left-back Alex Valle's loan from Barcelona is being cut short.
Tierney is out of contract with the Premier League club this summer and Celtic are hoping an agreement can be reached to bring the 27-year-old Scotland defender to the Scottish champions during January.
There had been speculation about Valle's future should Tierney return to Celtic, with Italian club Como reportedly interested in taking the 20-year-old on loan for the rest of the season.
Manager Rodgers says Valle will not play for Celtic again and also confirmed that the Scottish champions are hoping to sign a replacement for striker Kyogo Furuhashi, who was sold to Rennes on Monday.
"He's in Barcelona at the moment and will probably move on to another team," Rodgers said of Valle, who has made 19 appearances for Celtic but been mainly an understudy to Greg Taylor. "I'm disappointed he's left, but we have to move on."
Asked if it would speed up a deal for Tierney, Rodgers replied: "Ideally, it would, but at the moment he's still an Arsenal player. It will definitely take place in the summer, but if we can do it beforehand then great."
Portuguese winger Jota returned to Celtic from Rennes as Kyogo headed in the opposite direction to the French club and Rodgers admitted he is disappointed to have lost someone who has been "a real iconic player for the club".
"He's done absolutely brilliant," he said of the 30-year-old. "Clearly, we wouldn't have wanted to sell him at this point, but he made it clear he wanted to move. When that happened, you have to find best solution and the club will work very hard to get in an able replacement."
It means Rodgers will face Aston Villa on Wednesday in their final Champions League game before the play-offs without Kyogo and fellow Japan forward Daizen Maeda, who is suspended.
"Of course missing those two make difference, but other players can come in and have an opportunity to impress," Rodgers said.
Cameron Carter-Vickers will also miss out along with Scotland winger James Forrest through injury.
Rodgers revealed that the centre-half picked up a niggle in Celtic's latest game and he felt there is no need to risk him given the Scottish champions are already through to the play-offs regardless of the result in Birmingham.
