Reports from England have it the Arsenal FC has confirmed the signing of Schalke left-back, Sead Kolasinac. He arrived the club on a free transfer. The Bosnian player also attracted interests from top clubs in the Premier League and across Europe and was the subject of a failed bid from Chelsea in January. Manchester City, Liverpool, Everton, Juventus and AC Milan were all also keenly monitoring the defender.
But Arsene Wenger had been tracking the Bosnia and Herzegovina international for some time and the Gunners, who will not have Champions League football next season after opening negotiations in April, were able to stave-off fierce competition to land their man on a ‘long-term contract’. Kolasinac, who was born in Germany, has a German passport and represented the country from U18 to U20 level before switching his allegiance to Bosnia. He can also play at centre-back or as a defensive midfielder.
MailOnline said he joins a group of Arsenal left-backs currently including Nacho Monreal and Kieran Gibbs, with the latter recently linked with a move away from the club. The full-back is due to meet up with his new team-mates in July for the start of the club’s pre-season programme. Arsenal broke the news of their first summer signing with a creative social media post, as they tweeted a list of nine Arsenal players signed by Wenger, with the first letter of each of their surnames ordered to spell out Kolasinac.
They then posted a video of a 10th player, which turned out to be Kolasinac, with the newest Gunner greeting fans by saying ‘that’s right, it’s me. Come on Arsenal.’ In total he made 121 appearances for Schalke, his only professional club, and scored four goals. His tally of five assists last season was the greatest of any defender in the Bundesliga along with Markus Suttner of Ingolstadt.
The Gunners first summer signing comes at a time when manager Wenger has warned the club’s fans to expect a maximum of ‘two or three’ new players. We cannot spend as much as many other clubs because some clubs have external resources that allow them to be basically unlimited,’ he told BeIN Sports. ‘We can spend money because we have managed the club well. Let’s not forget the amount of money spent is not a guarantee of success.
The 23-year-old was raised in Karlsruhe, a city in southwest Germany bordering France. He began his youth football there and hopped to Hoffenheim and Stuttgart before landing in Schalke in 2011. He broke into the Schalke first team in 2012 and has been a regular at Veltins-Arena ever since. He began his youth career as a central defender or holding midfielder but has since found his home on the left-hand side. The left back has been capped by Bosnia and Herzegovina, qualifying through his parents, 18 times since 2013. He perhaps has the bogey title as the man who scored the fastest own goal in World Cup history after he turned the ball into the net three minutes into Bosnia and Herzegovina’s 2014 group stage defeat by Argentina.
