Arsenal: Sead Kolasinac must bury Kieran Gibbs frustration

Arsenal’s only signing of the summer so far is Sead Kolasinac on a free transfer. The left-back must bury the frustration felt at Kieran Gibbs’ untapped potential quickly and emphatically if he is to have a successful Gunners’ career.

Rewind two years and the Arsenal left-back position was a position of great uncertainty and potential. After persevering with the oft-injured Kieran Gibbs for a number of years since Gael Clichy’s exit to Manchester City, Arsene Wenger saw it fit to bring in a little competition for the talented, but untapped, defender.

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In January 2013, Wenger signed Spanish full-back Nacho Monreal for a reported fee of £10 million. It was hardly a ground-breaking addition. Monreal was a reliable, solid defender who had worked tirelessly throughout his career without ever blossoming into a bounding, elite full-back.

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Gibbs, meanwhile, was utterly unreliable. Not because of his form, simply because of his fitness, or lack thereof. Whenever he enjoyed the luxury of several successive starts, he began to recover his sharpness, haring down the wing with the same enthusiasm that exuded throughout his game as he burst onto the scene immediately after Clichy’s exit.

Since that time, however, as injuries have continued to blight Gibbs, Monreal has simply proceeded to plod along, putting in dependable performance after dependable performance, rarely lighting the world on fire, but also rarely making any horrific errors. It was clear, though, that Arsenal’s best was unlocked when the marauding Gibbs was at his most free, with his body giving the confidence to bomb up and down the left-flank like a greyhound chasing a toy rabbit. While Monreal was useful — he still is a very useful squad player given his experience and versatility –, he was not the player that Wenger hoped for.

Unfortunately, that player was never going to come, not unless changes were made.

This summer, those changes were made. With his contract expiring at Schalke amid interest from a host of top European clubs, Wenger acted swiftly in securing the future of Sead Kolasinac, officially announcing the signing shortly after his own contract extension.

Kolasinac will enter the squad amid great competition. Gibbs is still in North London, though is expected to leave in the coming months, and Monreal will have no intentions of relinquishing his starting role without a challenge.

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What Kolasinac must do is banish the frustrations of Gibbs’ untapped potential quickly and emphatically. He must prove to Wenger that he can offer the attacking outlet that Monreal cannot, that he can be the boundless full-back that he has been waiting for Gibbs to become. If he can do so, then he may well have a very successful Gunners’ career indeed. He certainly has all the tools.