Join thousands of fans who have signed up to our Celtic newsletter. Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Arsenal will launch their second bid for Kieran Tierney as they fear Napoli have stolen a march in the race for the Celtic star.

Record Sport understands the Gunners were confident of landing the 22-year-old despite the opening £15m bid getting rejected.

But Napoli’s growing interest have forced the English big guns back to the table and they have already started to clear the decks by negotiating with Nacho Monreal to cancel his £65K-a-week contract.

Arsenal see Tierney as the long-term successor and believe they can snap up the Celtic star for £22m and a fresh bid is expected within 48 hours.

Parkhead chiefs won’t budge on their £25m valuation but have already secured his replacement in Boli Bolingoli-Mbombo who has signed a four-year deal.

Meanwhile, boss Neil Lennon declared himself pleased with Celtic’s pre-season training camp as he turned his attention to the clash with Sarajevo. The Hoops concluded their 10-day trip to Austria and Switzerland with a goalless draw with St Gallen on Tuesday night, leaving them unbeaten in three pre-season friendlies.

He said: “It’s been a very successful trip. We’ve got a lot of good work in over the last 10 days. The preparation we’ve done is the best we could have hoped for.

“In terms of fitness levels in a short space of time, I think they look good.

“We’ll see how they settle now once we come back to Glasgow and get some more technical work into them.

(Image: SNS Group)

Meanwhile, Vakoun Bayo is facing a Champions League sweat after suffering an injury setback in Switzerland.

The Celtic striker is set for scans today and is a major doubt to be involved as the Hoops kick off their qualifying campaign in Sarajevo on Tuesday.

Bayo has struggled to make an impact at Parkhead since his £2million switch from Slovakian side Dunasjska in January.

The Ivory Coast frontman missed most of the second half of the campaign with a hamstring strain and has been eased back in by boss Neil Lennon.

He notched his first Hoops goal in the friendly win against Wiener SK in Vienna last week – but it’s feared he could have aggravated the previous injury.

Lennon said: “He felt his hamstring in training the other day, there was a bit of tightness there so he will have a scan on Thursday in Glasgow.”

Bayo could miss the trip to Bosnia but Lennon insisted Leigh Griffiths would be on board after the striker hit the goal trail in pre-season.

(Image: SNS Group)

The 28-year-old lashed six goals in three games in Austria and Switzerland – including four in a bounce game with St Gallen Under-21s on Tuesday.

Griffiths is still not fully up to speed but Lennon has been thrilled with the poacher’s progress since returning from seven months out battling personal demons.

Lennon said: “That is what Leigh is good at – scoring goals. He keeps working away and he scored four on Tuesday – two of them being brilliant – which will give him confidence.

“It is nice to have that sort of player back in with us again.”

Lennon’s squad returned to Glasgow last night and the manager admitted he was delighted with the 10-day camp.

(Image: SNS Group)

He insisted his side are getting up to speed for Europe and several players have made the most of their chance to shine – including Mikey Johnston.

The youngster stood out in the friendly clashes as Lennon gave him a key role.

He said: “Mikey will be banging on the door. I’m pleased with him. He has been a threat again in Switzerland before he faded.

“But they’ve all worked really hard and you saw a bit of fatigue which was totally understandable at this stage.

“We’ll just get through it and get the benefit from it.

“Now we’ll have a day or two off and then come back on Friday ready to go once more.”