Schalke 04 left-back offered €140,000-a-week contracts by Manchester City and Arsenal

Schalke could lose a second star in two years to Manchester City if Sead Kolašinac decides to join Pep Guardiola’s side, one of two realistic options for the 23-year-old Bosnian according to BILD.

The German publication is reporting tonight that both City and Arsenal have each offered Kolašinac, a left-back who is out of contract in June, a whopping salary of €140,000 (£119,000) a week to move to the Premier League. And he is set to decide between Schalke’s next two fixtures, the first against Freiburg on Sunday and the second against Hamburg on May 13.

The only other club left in the race for Kolašinac is AC Milan, but BILD describes their chances of signing him as ‘small’, with City and Arsenal the main choices. A new deal at Schalke is now ‘99% unlikely’ and the Gelsenkirchen club are set to continue an unwanted tradition of losing big names.

Moving to either City or Arsenal would earn the in-demand full-back nearly €7.3 million a season, and that would be before added bonuses. To put that into perspective, he has earned around €2 million at Schalke.

It isn’t just money motivating the sturdy Bosnian international – he is eager to develop with top players, including former teammate Leroy Sané and Sergio Agüero at City, or former Bundesliga stars Mesut Özil and Granit Xhaka at Arsenal.

There have been strong reports that Kolašinac to Arsenal is a done deal, but the information from Germany tonight is that Manchester City are still very much in the race to sign the left-back on a free transfer this summer.

Kolašinac is just one of several players in this position linked with Guardiola’s side. Other publications report José Luis Gayà of Valencia and impressive Monaco star Benjamin Mendy to be the main targets, and even Barcelona academy gem Marc Cucurella is said to be on City’s radar. This raises the question of whether Pep will bring in two left-backs in the summer or settle for one, possibly using Aleks Kolarov as the second choice, despite the Serb’s best form this season coming at centre-back.

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