Tag Archives: sead kolasinac

A wish list for Arsenal – 5 players we need to sign

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I found this in my drafts. I wrote it before the FA Cup Final. I have no idea why I did not publish it earlier, but here it is.

Every year I write a wish list. A prediction. I play football manager with myself. Attempt to build the Arsenal squad. Who I want to see come in, who I think will leave, what I think the squad will look like next year.

Here are my thoughts on the 2017/18 season…

In goal, Wojciech Szczesny and David Ospina will leave the club. We will raise £20-30m be selling them both. In their place, we should go for Sunderland’s Jordan Pickford.

Valued at £30m, we could pretty much get him for free if we get a decent value for the other two keepers. At worst we would be looking at a £10m outlay. Personally, I do not think Pickford is ready to play for a team like Arsenal.

It is easy at Sunderland. Saving 20 shots a game, not getting criticised if you concede 6, as you have said another 14. At Arsenal – and other top clubs – you come under higher scrutiny. By getting in Pickford now, we could easily play him in the cups whilst an understudy to Petr Cech. He will learn form the goal keeping legend, and this time next year, will take over as number one.

A deal for Sead Kolasinac looks done. A free transfer. Ignore the price tag. He is the best left back in the Bundesliga.

With his height and physicality, he could drop inside and become the left side of a 3 at the back. With Nacho Monreal also offering similar attributes, it could be a case of flipping a coin to decide who players where. Kieran Gibbs will make way.

In the middle of the park, I have been a long term fan of Renato Sanches.

He went for big money to Bayern Munich last year, but has struggled to nail down a spot. Munich could well look cash in before what they owe on him increases again.

Sanches has the physicality in the middle of the park that we have missed. An all round central midfielder, he can defend and attack, pass and tackle. He covers the ground and could become an absolute beast in the middle of the park alongside Granit Xhaka.

Moving forward, after their poor season last year, Riyad Mahrez might come available.

At the right price, he could provide competition for Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil. If we get him in early, it would also take the pressure off if we lose either player as we would already have a replacement.

Mahrez would also do a job on the wing, if we decide to move Sanchez up top (or behind Sanchez alongside Ozil).

Having a choice between Ozil, Sanchez and Mahrez is something we could certainly accommodate.

Finally we have Kylian Mbappe. The young striker is going to be very expensive. I am not 100% sure on him. He has the talent. But his price tag does not quite justify what he has done so far. He would be a luxury signing if signing him does not mean we have to give up on other targets. I would not sacrifice (for example) signing Sanches and Mahrez to bring in Mbappe, but once sales come in, we could free up enough money to sign the wonderkid.

It will be interesting to see how many we sign.

Note: This was originally written before we won the FA Cup Final

Keenos

Arsenal sign £20m defender

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Arsenal have confirmed the signing of Schalke left left-back Sead Kolasinac.

The Bosnian was voted as the best left-back in the Bundesliga last season, ahead of Bayern Munich’s David Alaba.

The highly rated full back was subject to a failed big from Premier League champions Chelsea in January. Manchester City, Liverpool, Juventus and AC Milan were also monitoring the defender.

The 23 year old Bosnian international has 18 caps for his country joined Schalke in 2013, playing over 100 times for the German side.

His tally of five assists last season was the greatest of any defender in the Bundesliga.

His defensive work rate and reluctance to shy away from a tackle will add some steel to the Arsenal backline.

Arsenal opened negotiations in April, staving off fierce competition from AC Milan to land their man on a ‘long-term contract’.

Kolasinac, who was born in Germany, has a German passport and represented his country from U18 to U20 level before switching his allegiance to Bosnia. He can also play at centre-back or as a defensive midfielder

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.

Obviously Kolasinac did not cost Arsenal £20m. He was a free transfer. The point was to highlight that some are moaning that he cost nothing, when if he actually cost £20m they would be getting excited right now.

One headline I read declared “it’s a little-known Bosnian defender on a free” – just because a work experience journalist has never heard of the Bundesliga Left Back of the Year, does not mean he is little known. I imagine the little known journalist will be looking for a new job sooner rather than later.

Just because Matt from London puts up a post on Facebook that he has not heard of him, and how can he be better than David Alaba when he always plays with David Alaba on FIFA, it does not mean we have signed a useless player.

We have just signed the best left back in the Bundesliga. It does not matter if he cost NOTHING or £20m, as long as he is the right player for the team.

Keenos

How will Sead Kolasinac fit in at Arsenal

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So the deal for Bosnian left back Sead Kolasinac is complete. We are just waiting for it to be nnounced on arsenal.com. Our first signing of the season. Great news.

Kolasinac is a player who many know little about. Unless you watch regular Bundesliga football, you would never have seen him play. I will be honest, I have not seen him. Not one bit. No clips, no highlights, no YouTube. I have never used in on FIFA or signed him on Football Manager.

The majority of stuff you would have read on him so far is by people with a similar experience of him as me. They know nothing. They look at Wikipedia and write an article round that for hits. To try and show that they know about him. When in reality they know almost nothing. So lets try and build a profile as to where he fits in based on what we can research:

Kolasinac is German born but opted to play for Bosnia. It feels like Arsene Wenger’s choice of player at the moment is Central Europeans with Eastern European heritage.

Last seasons two major signings – Granit Xhaka & Shkodran Mustafi – both had Albanian heritage. Add in Mesut Ozil, German born to Turkish immigrants, there is something Wenger clearly likes of these players. It reminds me of the late 90s when Frenchmen with African or Caribbean roots were all the rage.

Having players of a similar background to Kolasinac will help him settle quick. There are players that share is natural tongue, share his religion and share his heritage already at the club. He certainly won’t struggle to fit into the squad. So where does he fit into the team?

Kolasinac has apparently impressed at left back this season for Schalke. We only really know this because he has been shortlisted for the Bundlesiga Team. For all we know, every other left back in Germany could be useless.

If Arsenal return to four at the back next season, he will surely be a shoe-in for left back. Or at the least be competing with Nacho Monreal. His signing would probably mean the end of Kieran Gibbs if we stick to 4 at the back.

If we were to move to 3 at the back, Kolasinac could give us a few options.

The first is he plays left wing back. Having not seen him play, I would have to question the following:

  1. Is he attacking – There is no point playing a wing back who’s natural inclination is defence over attack. We need them to provide width.
  2. Can he cross – The wing backs are the main source of balls into the box, as we have seen recently with both Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Hector Bellerin. If he crosses like Gael Clichy, he is pointless.
  3. Can he get up and down – At wing back you need to have stamina. You are expected to be the winger and the full back at the same time. Providing the width, as well as providing defensive cover. Does he have the stamina to go for 90 minutes, and the pace to get back when caught up the field?

I am sure there are some out there who know (and many others who will pretend to know) whether he has the attributes to play wing back.

If he plays wing back, we could see the continuation of Nacho Monreal on the left sided of the back 3. He has played well there recently and could give Kolasinac the natural cover when he bombs forward.

The alternative is to move Kolasinac inside and play him as part of the back 3. At 6ft (thanks Wikipedia) he does have the height to play there, but again, having not seen him play, Iwould also like to raise the following:

  1. Is he defensive – Playing centre back, you need to have good positions. You can make up for a lot of physical attributes if you actually know the role. He will be a liability if constantly out of position.
  2. Is he good in the air – If he cant jump, or head the ball, he will be exposed at the back post time and again.
  3. Is he physical enough – Strikers bully defenders in the Premier League. Rob Holding has shown recently that to excel, you have to ensure you are not bullied.

Personally, having never seen Kolasinac play, I like the idea of him moving into centre back. He looks a physical specimen (in his Wikipedia picture) and being naturally left footed, would bring some balance to the back 3.

The wide centre backs do need to be comfortable on the ball, comfortable at full back when they are pulled across in defence, and be happy getting forward in support of the full back on their side.

On the right hand side, Mustafi fulfils a lot of these requirements. A strong centre back who has played right back. The balance is there. At the moment whilst Nacho Monreal has played well, he does look like a bit of a round peg in a squad hole. Kolasinac could bring the balance to the left hand side with Koscielny marshalling the troops in the middle.

If we stick to a back 3, I would imagine it would be either Monreal or Kolasinac at centre back, with the other at full back. Luckily with no international tournament this summer, we have the time to work on different systems, and different players within those systems, so that we can start the season with the best players in the best positions.

I am just glad we have got a deal done early and strengthened the left hand side of our defence (whether it be at full back or centre back).

Keenos