Sead Kolasinac has emerged as a target for West Ham (Getty Images)
According to Football.London, Sead Kolasinac is set for an exit from Arsenal as a £10m deal with Bayer Leverkusen is close to completion.
The 27-year-old Bosnian left-back started his youth career at FSSV Karlsruhe in 1999 and moved to the youth team in 2001. In the next few seasons, he progressed through the youth teams before being promoted to the U-17s.
He switched to VfB Stuttgart in 2010 but only for a few months as he finally settled in at Schalke’s youth team. In 2012, he was promoted to the senior side and went on to make 123 appearances for them. During that time, he scored 4 goals and assisted 13 more (source – Transfermarkt).
Arsenal signed him on a free transfer after his contract with the German side expired in 2017. Since then, he has made over 100 appearances for the Gunners while contributing to 20 goals (5 goals + 15 assists). Kolasinac played for the German youth sides before switching allegiances to Bosnia & Herzegovina. He has 31 caps to his name for the national side so far.
When Kolasinac was signed, it was seen as a real coup for Arsene Wenger and the club. A young and well-built defender arrived on a free transfer. The £87,500-a-week ace quickly settled into the club from the start.
However, as time went on, Kolasinac started performing below par. He has now reached a level where he has been nothing short of poor. Arsenal went ahead and signed Kieran Tierney last season and since then, he has shown that he is ready to be the club’s first choice.
There has also been the emergence of wing-back Bukayo Saka, who has taken the team by storm. Add to that, Arteta using Ainsley Maitland-Niles as a left wing-back in the opening games and you have a lot of players vying for the same position.
Amidst all this, Kolasinac is the odd one out. While his attacking prowess is solid, he is defensively very suspect. Featuring in just 4 games this season so far, it looks like Kolasinac’s time at the club could be coming to an end and rightly so.
The club are right in arranging a deal for him with Leverkusen. Given Arsenal are in talks to complete the signing of Thomas Partey by paying his release clause, some departures might turn out to be more valuable than usual.
