Arsenal: Swapping Kieran Tierney for Sead Kolasinac has one problem

Arsenal are swooping in on Kieran Tierney while simultaneously entertaining offers for Sead Kolasinac. That’s all great, but for one problem.

Kieran Tierney has remained on the minds of many Arsenal fans after initial rumors of him coming to the Emirates burst onto the scene not all that long ago. With Nacho Monreal on the decline and now headed out of the club, we needed an answer, and few leftbacks looked to be a better answer than Tierney.

The rumors have sprouted up again, this time on the backs of accompanying rumors that Sead Kolasinac could be sold to Barcelona for a fee in the vicinity of £20m.

That’s a decent fee, improved by the fact that we spent nothing on him, though I still think Kolasinac has a higher value than that. That said, if it’s enough to get us Tierney, then that solves the problem, right?

Well, no. It’s not quite that simple.

What’s so great about our rightback situation is we have Hector Bellerin, a traditional rightback who can dabble at wingback. And we have Ainsley Maitland-Niles, a wingback who can dabble at traditional rightback.

Sead Kolasinac is a wingback who can dabble at leftback and Nacho Monreal was the traditional leftback who could dabble at wingback.

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Kieran Tierney is a fantastic option to replace Monreal, because he is the same – a traditional leftback who can dabble at wingback.

That said, fun fact, he is only one person. And you never want to have any position covered by only one man. Just as Arsene Wenger after so many years of relying solely on Olivier Giroud up front with no alternative. It gets rough.

Tierney replaces Monreal. That’s how this should read. Selling Kolasinac alongside doesn’t make much sense when Kolasinac and Tierney would be the perfect combination. The perfect array of skills, exactly like what Bellerin and Maitland-Niles have. They can each play both positions, with each having a strength, and it offers a lot of flexibility off the bench, as well as when the schedule picks up to include those pesky midweek matches.

If you sell Kolasinac, you then have to replace him too. Tierney doesn’t replace them both. He replaces one. And honestly, while I wouldn’t be opposed to Kolasinac being sold, I don’t understand what the rush is. His delivery is a bit poor, that can be fixed, but everything else is pretty stellar.

Don’t mess with the few things that are working. At our best, our fullback situation was a hidden boon. I’d hate to see that change.