Aston Villa have been urged to make a surprise transfer bid for Arsenal left-back Kieran Tierney, who has found himself on the periphery of the Premier League table-toppers' season this year.

According to CBS Sports reporter James Benge (via talkSPORT) the Gunner hierarchy are considering offloading the 25-year-old Tierney amid recent reports that the outfit are looking to home in on prodigious Real Valladolid talent Ivan Fresneda.

And now, speaking to Caught Offside, Stan Collymore has remarked that Unai Emery's Villa could offer the perfect platform to rekindle his best form after indeed falling out of favour following the £32m summer signing of Oleksandr Zinchenko from Manchester City.

Collymore said: “If it is true that the Gunners want to offload him, I really hope Aston Villa go in for him.

“It would make sense as well because I don’t think Lucas Digne is going to be there much longer and although the Frenchman has done alright since he joined, Tierney is definitely an upgrade.”

Bye-bye Digne

While the Villans have recently completed the signing of left-back Alex Moreno from Real Betis for £13.2m, the introduction of a further talented option would only fortify the club's resolve to a new level, with Emery surely devising an ambitious plot to clinch his fifth piece of European silverware with his new Premier League outfit.

While the Claret & Blue currently wield Lucas Digne within the ranks, the Frenchman might not forge a lengthy future in the Midlands with Emery now at the wheel.

Digne has missed several matches due to injury this term and could face an uncertain future following the arrival of Moreno and the recent Aston Villa links to Tierney, alluding to Emery's desire to further bolster the position.

Signed from Scottish giants Celtic in 2019 for £25m, Tierney initially slotted right into Mikel Arteta's system and has made 111 appearances for the North London club to date, although his progress has been consistently blighted by recurring knee problems.

Over the course of the high-flying Gunners' current campaign, Tierney has made 24 appearances across all competitions, although he has only made four starts in the English top-flight despite first-choice option Zinchenko's injury several months ago that ruled him out of contention for a total of seven matches in the league alone.

And with a regular starting berth unlikely to materialise over the coming seasons at the resurgent Emirates Stadium, Tierney might be prudent to put faith in the Spaniard Emery's vision and forge ahead with a transfer, likely competing with Moreno for regular minutes with a club showing all of the early promise of an outfit on the up.

As per FBref, the 35-cap Scotsman ranks among the top 6% of positional peers for progressive passes and the top 16% for total passes attempted, which highlights the impact he could make on the efficacy of Villa's transitional play, indeed a major component of Emery's counter-pressing system, placing the onus on structural discipline and swift progression when the opportunity arises.

Tierney can indeed offer a valuable additional dimension from this regard, with his "unique" skill set, as once remarked by former Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers, leaving Villan technical director Johan Lange to reap the rewards of landing another tool to provide the spark for success.