Sead Kolasinac says he came to Arsenal to play against the world’s best players, not necessarily alongside them.

Kolasinac spoke to DAZN this week about the move. He described his transfer as the next step for his career, and explained the key thing for him was the level of competition.

“I wanted to take the next step,” he said. “I wanted to compete against the best players in the world. Especially the offensive players. In the Premier League they are on a very high level.

“As a defender you have to play against the best players. This was my goal. That is the reason why I came to the Premier League, because I wanted to compete against the best players.”

You can understand what he means. The only way you can really reach your potential is if you’re tested by opponents every week.

Perhaps an attacker can improve by going to the training ground alone and practicing shooting all day, but defenders can only really learn how to do their job by playing against other people. The better they are, the more you can learn from facing them.

It’s fair to say the Bosnian should’ve learned a lot this season then. After a solid start to the campaign, he’s found it more and more difficult to get into the team.

When he is in the side, though, he’s facing the likes of Manchester City, who put five goals past Arsenal in his 154 minutes on the pitch.

It’s important to remember Kolasinac is still pretty young for a defender though. He’s still just 24, so if he can learn from these experiences he still has a good chance to make it in the Premier League.

Let’s hope he does.