‘Absolute dream’: Director really wants Arsenal loanee to sign permanently, £7m reported price tag

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Arsenal loanee Sead Kolasinac would be an “absolute dream” of a permanent signing, Jochen Schneider has admitted.

The Gunners defender, who lost his first-team place under Mikel Arteta this term, rejoined former club Schalke until the end of the season during the January transfer window.

Kolasinac, who was immediately handed the captain’s armband, has made five Bundesliga appearances so far for Christian Gross’ side.

However, Schalke remain in deep relegation trouble, sitting bottom of the table on eight points, nine adrift of safety.

Should the Gelsenkirchen side go down, the prospect of signing Kolasinac permanently will pretty much be out of the question.

According to Ruhr24, the 27-year-old has a price tag of £7million, and even if he agreed to waive part of his salary, he’d still be out of their budget in the second tier.

This would be a different story if they were to survive in the Bundesliga, and Schneider, the club’s sports director, is certainly keen on the prospect of signing Kolasinac for good.

“That is our absolute dream,” he is quoted by Ruhr24 as saying. “He’s an incredibly good guy, lives the club, pushes and pulls the cart. Sead embodies Schalke like no other.”

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Kolasinac has only made five appearances for Arsenal this season, and has played just 90 minutes of Premier League football – suffice to say he’s not in Arteta’s plans.

He’s contracted to the Gunners until 2022, so this summer is the last chance they have of recouping a decent fee for the player, and it’s likely they’ll look to sell him.

Hopefully Schalke do stay up and subsequently sign Kolasinac permanently – it would be straightforward business for Arsenal, with the player fond of the club and vice versa.