Mikel Arteta justified in La Liga transfer switch amid Arsenal critics calls to reverse decision

Kieran Tierney suffered yet another injuryduring his loan spell at Real Sociedad this season. The Scottish international missed five La Liga matches in the first half of the season due to a hamstring injury suffered against Athletic Club.

Sociedad have already lost Aihen Munoz, who replaced Tierney when he was out. Munoz suffered a cruciate ligament injury in La Real’s 1-0 league win over Celta Vigo on Saturday – this was the first time in six league matches that Tierney had been dropped for Munoz only for the defender to suffer a serious injury.

The Basque club are close to signing Javi Galan on loan from Atletico Madrid. A decision brought about in the main by Munoz’s injury but also the concerns over Tierney’s fitness which was then realised in yesterday’s Cope del Rey win over Celta Vigo, and the more natural centre-half Aritz Elustondo came into the left-back position – it seems Celta are not a good omen for Sociedad’s fitness woes.

Tierney had been subject to much speculation surrounding Arsenal’s January window with calls for the Scotsman to be brought back. However, when asked about this at the start of the window he shut the calls down and claimed he was happy in Spain.

«Several people have asked me about this but the answer is no,» he told The Athletic.«I am definitely staying here.

»Arsenal fans are great, they always gave me a lot of support. During the four years I was there, I will always be grateful to the fans.

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«I don’t want to speak badly about the Premier League because there are some great atmospheres, but in