Interview

'When Sead intervenes, he provokes happiness'

It has taken no time at all for Sead Kolasinac to earn the affection of the Arsenal crowd. With each crunching tackle, or driving run, his cult hero status only grows stronger.

Arsene Wenger has been hugely impressed by the Bosnia international’s start to life in England, and can understand why he is so popular.

“There is something there [when he plays] and you feel that from the crowd,” the Arsenal manager said. “The determined attitude gets to the crowd and that gives something to the team, you can see that with him and when he intervenes he provokes happiness.

“Maybe he is the strongest [player I have coached], he is naturally strong. He uses quite well the strength of his body without violence and when he intervenes it doesn't look to be a foul, he just uses his body strength. It is an important quality to help adapt to the Premier League.

“He has the capacity to repeat runs and we noticed when we watched him play that he is quite dangerous in the final third.

“He already has some assists since he came here so overall maybe he is not a glamorous dribbler but the quality of his runs are very efficient.”