How you doing everybody?
Here we are in the north London sun, we're out and about
and during the season we're going to be doing some interviews with players,
women players, the Academy,
but today we are here for the launch of Arsenal's third kit with adidas,
and we are going to be speaking to a player that I absolutely adore
and the fans adore. We are going to be speaking to Kieran Tierney.
And I'm really looking forward to it, so let's go and do that.
KT, I've gotta say, my T-shirt man?
Mate you're looking tremendous.
I haven't got it tucked in. I've got to ask you about the tucked in stuff,
because when we were playing, it had to be tucked in.
Honestly, it was like, that.
Even when I look at my Celtic kit, it looked like it was my dad's.
When I was growing up, I had the baggy shirts
and the sleeves were down to here.
But now it's all tight, fitted, custom fitted and
me tucking it in I just feel that's me ready to go.
With the Celtic obviously we've got that Celtic link in common.
I was there for like, I think it was like 6 months K.
'Cos when I went there Henrik had broken his leg.
He took me for something to eat
and it was literally like Jesus was walking down the road,
the way the fans were. - Yeah, the king.
In respect of the fans, the love they had for you,
I'm feeling like I'm getting the same vibe here.
Can you feel how much that we've kind of like
taken to you, what do you think it is?
Obviously, the fans at Celtic were amazing.
Coming down here, I was like, this is going to be different.
I'm not going to get that.
But since I've come here, they've took to me, it's been brilliant,
even when I was injured.
And then when I came back and played
at end of that season it just went to another level as well.
I would just like to thank them, because it's amazing.
When you signed for Celtic you stayed with your parents.
Is that important for you to be amongst that, especially now you're down here?
When I'm the pitch now that's who I do it for, is them.
When I see them at games, I wave to them. I'm like this is the best feeling ever.
Scoring is brilliant. I don't do it much, but scoring is brilliant, assisting and
winning but making your family and parents proud then,
there's no feeling that compares to that.
Do you know something, I didn't actually get to play on this pitch.
What's it like playing here? What was your first game like?
I was really nervous for you because I was so desperate for us to get you to come,
because it went for so long, is he coming, ain't he coming?
I was nervous, of course, I had a lot of expectation on me.
People had been waiting because I was injured, so it just kept building up.
I was like, I had better not let anyone down here. I just want to do well.
And obviously it was the Nottingham Forest game.
It was just a great occasion. The fans were brilliant with me.
When my name got read out, they all cheered loud.
You see in our dressing room, it seems like a very harmonious dressing room.
We've got a Brazilian connection.
We've got obviously a French connection, a German connection
and like you are in there as the only Scotsman.
Who's your link men? Who's helping you in there?
Hector was the first one who kind of put his arm around me.
They call Hector the Spanish road man, he's been here so long.
Yeah, he's brilliant and helped me massively then
when I got back more training involved.
It was like Rob Holding and Calum Chambers, kind of
the English boys who helped me as well.
Like you said you were nervous, knowing that 'I need to play well.'
The only Scotsman in the place. What's that nervousness like?
It's not nice, but it makes me want to go and work and prove people wrong.
I was down here and probably not many players had even heard who I was.
No idea, never seen me play. So I was down here with it all to prove.
That's just what I enjoy doing, working hard.
Where I am today is from hard work,
and a bit of luck as well, but I'm just grateful to have the chance.
The teammates have been brilliant with me and I can't ask for anything more.
Coming from Celtic obviously winning, serial winners, and
let's face it you came into an Arsenal side under a lot of pressure.
You know, that change from Christmas time to actually winning the FA Cup.
This season we've all had as a team, it was tough,
but for me personally with injuries on top of it as well,
it was just, what a moment, one of the best in my career, it was one to savour.
And just the feeling at the end that we've won silverware after
so many people had written us off.
You know what Kieran, I did a call with Mikel, it was brilliant, insightful.
He's so engaging. And I remember he was telling us,
who we are looking out for in respects of really going to blast us
and take us to that level where you need to go? Who are the players?
The first person Kieran Tierney.
How does that make you feel to know you've got a manager,
one of the best young managers around, saying that you are probably the one?
That just got my confidence high,
because lockdown I was just coming back from injury,
and I saw you two speak, and I was like, that's brilliant.
It just made me feel better about myself.
I hadn't played or trained really under the manager,
so I was like I hope he knows who I am.
I hope he knows I'm a left-back.
All I can do is try and play well to repay his faith,
because he's been brilliant with me.
I just saw the boys,
everybody coming out and saying things to you like, oh, the big man.
We want to do interviews with you. Is the dressing room an unbelievable place?
Yeah, it's got so much better as well.
So at the start, see when you're losing, and it's not fun.
Nobody likes to lose. You just enjoy playing football and you enjoy winning.
And see when you've got a changing room who enjoys winning together,
that's the winning formula.
People would think with the different kind of, the Brazilian, the German,
the French, obviously the English guys,
is it very harmonious? It seems the different cultures, it's like a family?
It has to be. See If you want to win you need to be a team.
We're always there for each other, there's no question.
And I don't think anybody in the changing room would ever question that.
What do you think we can expect from next season?
I know we will be trying the best we can.
We want to be higher up in the table. The fans deserve to be.
They deserve Champions League football as well.
It's not going to happen overnight, everybody knows that,
but as long as people can see we are progressing,
because we know we're progressing, every day, the manager,
we believe in every single word he says, and it's brilliant.
Hopefully, this season can be a good one for us.
So first up Fulham.
They've just come up, they're playing Arsenal...
It's a tough one. It's a tricky one.
Yeah, any team coming up they've always got a point to prove.
They'll want to do well in the league, they'll want to stay up,
they'll want to get points as early on as they can but
it's the same for us, we want to get points straightaway.
So we know it's going to be tough, we'll expect that,
but we'll be looking to get the win.
Listen Kieran, it's been great talking to you.
Like I say, I'm not wearing this for no joke. You're my guy.
I'm just looking for great things for you.
All the very best for this season my friend.
Thanks very much, thank you. - Nice one.