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Arsenal and Sead Kolasinac: So that’s how it’s going to be?
By Josh Sippie
Arsenal’ loss to Manchester United is actually invoking of some pride. But the fact that Sead Kolasinac continues to throw up injuries is not.
I wasn’t joking when I said back in August that I was more excited for Sead Kolasinac than for Alexandre Lacazette. I loved them both, and I was thrilled Arsenal snagged them, but Kolasinac is the brutish, bullish defender we have so craved. He has a spine that more than makes up for the lack of one in a lot of his team mates.
Plus, he plays a position that we sorely needed bolstering at, having only an aging Nacho Monreal to hold down the spot. The fact that he was free doesn’t even matter. There isn’t a reasonable price that I would have deemed “too much” for the Bosnian.
Initially it looked so good. He was scoring goals, assisting, and on top of the world. And then one injury happened and, just like that, everything was gone. It felt like the castle had collapsed as Kolasinac struggled to find his footing again.
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Kolasinac had to be subbed off due to another injury around the hour mark against Manchester United. According to the Sun, it is believed to be a recurring problem with his left ankle, the same kind of problem that has seen him forced to make premature exits a handful of other times this year.
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Most notably, it happened in the 11th minute against AC Milan. It happened against Senegal in an International Friendly. It has happened more times prior to that.
None of this is Kolasinac’s fault, obviously. But the problem is that we Arsenal fans have seen this so many times. We have known a player’s potential only to sit by and wait for him to finally get his health in order.
In short, we are no strangers to recurring injuries that never surprise us.
The problem is more than that. With a new boss coming in, Kolasinac has to find himself in better fortune or he may be playing an even tougher game of catch-up. And that I do not want to see, because he is the exact person that we need in that exact role.
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At this point, just shut him down for the year and let him heal. There’s no point watching him hurt the same ankle over and over again. Protect the future by being safe in the present.