Everyone and his dog (including the Guardian!) have now reported that Arsenal have hijacked Everton’s move to bring Schalke’s Bosnia and Herzegovina defender Sead Kolasinac to the Emirates next season.
The 23-year-old left-back looked nailed on move to Goodison Park on a free transfer following the expiry of his contract with Schalke in the summer, but the report says that the Gunners jumped in with an increased wage offer to persuade him to snub the Merseyside club.
Although playing for Bosnia, Kolasinac was born and raised in Germany and played for their international youth sides before opting for Bosnia, and has been highly-rated throughout his short career. But now his arrival at Arsenal is confirmed, who does this mean he will be replacing in the squad. The obvious choice would be Kieran Gibbs, who is reported to be yet another player entering the last year of his contract next season, but with Wenger’s recent comments about Arsenal keeping their British Core at the club, it would seem unlikely that he would let such a loyal servant go after ten years as an adequate squad player under Arsene.
Maybe Nacho Monreal? Although he is considered first choice left-back ahead of Gibbs, he has now reached the ripe old age of 31 and perhaps he would like to go back to Spain to end his playing days after 4 seasons with the Gunners? He is 3 years older than Gibbs, who has seemed happy to be a backup option for Wenger throughout his career, and there is no reason why he couldn’t continue doing that until he retires….
Who do you think will be on their way out this summer?
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