Arsenal: Sead Kolasinac will latch on quicker than Alexandre Lacazette

Arsenal’s preseason tour is about to kick off meaning we will get our first look at Sead Kolasinac and Alexandre Lacazette? My money is on Kolasinac to latch quicker.

Arsenal will be flying to Australia and China to take part in their preseason tour and they have released the list of players that will be coming with them on the tour. There are some obviously notable inclusions and some pretty notable exclusions as well.

Most notably, Alexandre Lacazette and Sead Kolasinac will be making their debuts in an Arsenal kit, with both expecting to walk right into the first team at the start of the season.

That said, if it was up to me to choose between which of the two would make an impact sooner, it would be Kolasinac, the Bosnian Hulk. And my logic is quite simple.

First of all, notice who wasn’t on the preseason tour – Kieran Gibbs. The primary competitor to Kolasinac, meaning that Gibbs is almost certainly going to be leaving the team, giving our new man an easy pass into an entire season of play with little to not interruption. Unless Nacho Monreal moves out wide, but I don’t see that happening either.

Kolasinac is built to survive in the Premier League. He is already the style of player who makes a huge impact in the physicality-laden competition. He is a no-nonsense defender that can do so many things. Of those things, being a dainty, technical player is not one of them. He retains the ball, wins it back and doesn’t mind getting in a rumpus.

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And clearly Wenger has all the faith in the world that Kolasinac can run away with the position given how Gibbs is being shooed out.

I’m not saying that Lacazette won’t be able to catch on, but given his style and the transition between Ligue 1 and the EPL (which Zlatan exemplified), there might be a decent amount of time where Lacazette gets frustrated.

That’s why we are keeping hold of Olivier Giroud. Other than the fact that he is also a bit more proven than Gibbs. But still, especially at an attacking role, there is much more acclimation required. Just ask Alexis Sanchez or Mesut Ozil. Both had huge acclimation periods of varying length.

Lacazette will have one too, so it’s important to remember that it’s no cause for panic when it inevitably comes to pass.

Next: 5 Things We Need To See From Sead Kolasinac

That said, Kolasinac will not have any such period. And that’s why he is going to get off to a running start in his career, while Lacazette may come out sprinting, then gradually slow into a jog before sprinting again after the acclimatizing is done.

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