Arsenal have been told they will have to break Celtic’s club record to sign Kieran Tierney.

The Gunners have had two bids rejected for the 22-year-old, the first of which was around £15million followed by an improved offer in the region of £18m.

The Scottish champions have never sold a player for more than £19m – the figure recouped for Moussa Dembele’s move to Lyon last summer – but Arsenal will have to surpass that figure if they are to make their first signing of the summer.

Celtic boss Neil Lennon does not want to lose Tierney and he has four years remaining on his existing agreement but Arsenal are confident the defender wants to move to the Premier League.

Tierney is a left-back by trade but it is understood Unai Emery believes Tierney is also capable of having a future at centre-back, a position he has infrequently played for both Celtic and Scotland.

Arsenal’s modest summer transfer budget of around £40m has complicated their pursuit of several players but there is no such obstacle with Tierney, whose wage demands would fall well within the Gunners’ existing structure.

They have had more difficulty in signing a winger with deals stalling for preferred targets Ryan Fraser of Bournemouth and Dalian Yifang’s Yannick Carrasco.

Carrasco’s agent, Christophe Henrotay, confirmed over the weekend that Arsenal are one of several interested clubs but Dalian’s stance keeps changing. The Chinese side are currently insisting he is not for sale.

Although both deals aren’t considered dead, Arsenal are assessing other options but any formal interest in Wilfried Zaha seems unlikely to be successful given Crystal Palace’s £80m valuation.

Palace are reluctant to allow Zaha and Aaron Wan-Bissaka in the same transfer window and the latter is thought to be close to moving to Manchester United with talks ongoing.

Zaha has made it clear he wants to leave Selhurst Park but is keen to play in the Champions League – a competition Arsenal failed to qualify for next season.