McManus: Kieran Tierney a role model to look up to on Celtic return

Celtic B team coach Stephen McManus believes Kieran Tierney’s return is a massive lift for his young players as well as the whole club.

The 28-year-old officially rejoined Celtic this week on a free transfer, six years after leaving for Arsenal in a £25m deal.

Former Celtic captain McManus, who was promoting the Parkhead friendly against Newcastle on July 19, said: “It’s massive because young players want to feel as if they’ve got somebody that they can look up to. They’ve got that but they need to see that and they need to feel that for themselves.

“You’ve got it with Callum (McGregor), you’ve got it with James (Forrest), so now with KT coming back it gives us an extra top player.

“The fact that he’s coming back with his full career ahead of him after the experiences he’s had down in England at a top club like Arsenal, is going to be invaluable, not just for himself, for the younger players but for everybody throughout the football club.

“When somebody as good as that leaves, you want to make sure that you’re financially getting rewarded for the success that he’s brought, but you also don’t want somebody then coming back with two years to go within their career and they’re obviously winding it down. I think that’s really important.

“Kieran’s coming back at the age that he’s at, his full career’s ahead of him. For the national team, for us as a club, it’s tremendous.

“It’s given everybody a real boost and for the younger lads it’s another role model that we’ve got to look up to.”