William Gallas has warned Mikel Arteta he cannot afford to lose out of favour full-back Kieran Tierney.
The Scotland international joined the Gunners in the summer of 2019 and had cemented his reputation as a firm favourite among the Arsenal fanbase.
Only a spate of injuries had prevented Tierney from emerging as a potential candidate for captaincy and nagging doubts over his fitness persuaded Arteta to sign Oleksandr Zinchenko in the summer.
Big-spending Newcastle are said to be interested in signing the 25-year-old but Gallas insists Arsenal would be making a mistake if they look to cash in on a player who cost them £25million nearly four years ago.
He told Genting Casino: ‘You always need two quality players in every position if you want to be successful in the Premier League. If Tierney goes to Newcastle, then they won’t have that competition.
‘You have to find the best solution for all of the parties because I’m sure Tierney wants to play more regularly.
‘Arsenal need to have good, young players who are waiting to come through and prove their quality.’
Tierney had been expected to feature in tomorrow night’s Europa League last 16 first leg tie against Sporting Lisbon having not started since the FA Cup defeat at Manchester City last month.
Arteta will, however, be without the rampaging full-back after he was forced to miss training through illness.
The Arsenal boss now decide whether or not to risk Zinchenko, ahead of Sunday’s game against Fulham, or deploy Takehiro Tomiyasu at left-back.
Leandro Trossard and Eddi Nketiah were also absent from training, but Gabriel Jesus took a full part in the session before the flight to Portugal ahead of his long-awaited comeback.
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