Sead Kolasinac leaves Arsenal on loan to former club Schalke

The defender has not played in the league since September

Sead Kolasinac (Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

Sead Kolasinac is leaving Arsenal to rejoin former club Schalke on loan in the January transfer window.

The versatile performer has been on the fringes of the squad this season, playing only once in the Premier League and only appearing in one league squad at all since the end of September.

Four of his nine appearances have come in the Europa League, but Mikel Arteta has spoken of the priority for his side to be to offload players this month who he feels either need game time or won’t contribute to the team’s improvement.

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Kolasinac played for Schalke until 2017, when he joined the Emirates Stadium club on a free transfer.

The Bundesliga outfit have been in hideous form throughout this season, failing to win a single game and sitting rock bottom of the table after taking four points from 13 games.

27-year-old Kolasinac still has 18 months to run on his deal and will join Schalke until the end of this campaign.

A statement on the Gunners’ website from technical director Edu read:

“Sead needs to be playing regularly, so we have decided together that a move back to Germany with Schalke will benefit him at this moment. We will be keeping in close contact with Sead, and wish him huge success for the remainder of the season with Schalke.”

Arsenal have been playing Kieran Tierney more often than not at left-back, while the Scot also plays on the left of three at the back when Arteta switches systems - the two roles Kolasinac usually operates in.

Assuming documentation goes through as planned, Kolasinac will move on 4 January.