Brendan Rodgers has confirmed that Kieran Tierney's return to Celtic "will definitely take place in the summer", although there is still hope that the Arsenal defender could move to Glasgow this month.
Tierney is out of contract with Arsenal in July and Celtic have agreed pre-contract terms with the 27-year-old for him to move back to Parkhead, but the Hoops are now waiting on a decision from the Gunners to see if he is available in the current transfer window, which shuts on February 3.
Fellow left-back Alex Valle has had his loan spell from Barcelona terminated by Celtic to allow the Spaniard to complete his proposed move to Italian side Como.
Rodgers is hopeful that Valle's departure will accelerate the process of signing Tierney, so that he can be selected in Celtic's Champions League squad for the knockout rounds, although the Hoops boss has admitted that it is "out of our control".
Asked if Valle's exit could lead to Tierney re-signing this month, Rodgers told reporters on Tuesday: "Ideally it would [happen in January] but, at this moment, he's still an Arsenal player.
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Rodgers delivers Tierney, Valle transfer update
"I think everyone is agreed that it will definitely take place in the summer. If we can do it beforehand, then great.
"I don't know. I think that, like I said, we'd prepared that for the summer, and I don't want to speak too much on it, with the greatest respect, because he's not a Celtic player here now with us.
"But, if we were able to do it, of course we would like to do that, but that's out of our control at this moment in time."
Meanwhile, Rodgers expressed his disappointment at Valle leaving the club, adding: "Alex won't play again, sadly. He's in Barcelona at the moment and he will probably then move on to another team.
"He's another young player that's contributed really well for us, played nearly 20 appearances, played in some very important games, made his Champions League debut and, especially at Atalanta, he was fantastic. We're disappointed he's left, but we have to move on."
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Tierney return to Celtic this month may depend on Zinchenko's Arsenal future
Celtic hope that the departure of Valle will open the door for Tierney to make an imminent return to the club where he spent 14 years of his career, including 10 years in their academy and four years in the senior team.
Tierney played 170 times for the Hoops and won eight major trophies before completing a £25m transfer to Arsenal in the summer of 2019 - a club-record sale for Celtic at the time.
The Scotland international's time at the Emirates Stadium has been hampered by injury issues, although he has represented the Gunners 129 times in all competitions.
After making 26 appearances on loan at Real Sociedad last season, Tierney missed the first three months of the current campaign with a hamstring injury sustained while playing for Scotland at Euro 2024, and he has since played just five times for Arsenal under Mikel Arteta, including only one start in the EFL Cup.
Arsenal's decision over whether to allow Tierney to leave this month or in the summer will likely depend on the future of fellow left-back Oleksandr Zinchenko, who is attracting interest from Borussia Dortmund and Atletico Madrid.
Riccardo Calafiori and Jurrien Timber have both operated at left-back this season, while the emergence of academy graduate Myles Lewis-Skelly could potentially allow for both Tierney and Zinchenko to move on this month.
Oliver Thomas
