By Charlie Maywood
With last summer's signing of Scotsman Keiran Tierney and the consistently brilliant performances displayed by young prospect Bukayo Saka, it could be argued that Sead Kolasinac is now of little use at left-back for Arsenal- although, I'd disagree.
Throughout the season its become evident that Kieran Tierney is extremely injury prone and Sead Kolasinac has thus been one of the two viable options there. And whilst Bukayo Saka has performed exceptionally considering his inexperience at such a level and the fact he’s also playing out of position, it is a makeshift option as his preference is to play further forward. Therefore leaving us with just one out and out left back in Kolasinac in the circumstance that our number 1 left back is injured, which means he must be kept.
Furthermore, in the disastrous event that Bukayo Saka does run down his contract and leave Arsenal, we would be left with just two players who are at all capable of filling this role. Getting rid of Kolasinac would put us in a position where we’d have to go out and find a replacement signing, which we do not have the financial stability to do and is unquestionably not a main priority for us as transfer business goes this summer.
Similarly, to Saka, the Bosnian possesses good offensive abilities, with his driving runs and inviting deliveries which have led to many goals in his time at the club proving his worth along those years. Although he can get found out defensively at times, he's still a very capable squad player. When played at left back it is clear to see he has very good chemistry with the attacking players linking up with them further forward leading to goals.
His substantial wages have to be taken into consideration though and go in favour of the argument that we should ship him out this summer to save ourselves £5.2 million annually, also bearing in mind that we are very feeble financially due to a lack of high level European football throughout the past few years and the global pandemic which is proving challenging for all clubs globally. Additionally, despite possibly being third choice at left-back, he's comfortably the highest earner of the three . I believe this was a mistake made by the board during the old regime when we originally signed him as he is clearly a player who does not display performances worthy of £100,000 a week- the price you unfortunately pay for signing players on a free transfer.
There is definitely an argument to be made that we should cash in on him and bring in a left-back who is willing to meet much lower wage demands which would save us a lot of money annually and would enable us to invest in other areas. However, among the long, long, long list of players linked to a move to Arsenal the only left-back who has been highlighted is Layvin Kurzawa. Yes, he may be available on a free but his inevitably extensive wage demands deem him a player who we should definitely not be going in for. The ‘free’ transfer status should not act as a nicely coated foil in the eyes of the Arsenal hierarchy as he is a bang average player whose ability does not exceed that of Kolasinac’s.
In addition, rumours have circulated that Kurzawa does not hold a persona to be desired of, commonly bringing down the mood in the dressing room and not putting in the effort which should be expected of a player playing at his level. There are far too many negative attachments which come with this ‘free’ transfer which most definitely outweigh the lack of positives he would bring to the club. Therefore, I do not see a defining reason as to why Kolasniac needs to be moved on - the main issue being his wages, which aren't his fault, but the average performances he displays are worthy to keep him in the squad for me. And yes whilst his performances may not be of such high standards, like I have said multiple times in this article, he isn’t a first choice left-back making him an ideal player who we can use to rotate during periods of high intensity and overloading fixture schedules.
This adds on to another reason why I feel he should be more valued at the club in the grand scheme of things. Oh and also if you’ve forgotten during these three months of no live football he is undoubtedly fucking beast.
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