Sead Kolasinac joins Marseille after Arsenal rip up contract as Charlie Austin criticises Gunners’ transfer activity following postponed Tottenham clash – ‘It’s ridiculous!’

Sead Kolasinac has joined Marseille after having his contract terminated by Arsenal.

The left-back had six months left on his deal at the Emirates but has now joined the French club on a free transfer, despite the Gunners short of first-team players, which caused the north London derby to be postponed.

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Kolasinac joined the Gunners on a free transfer from Schalke in 2017, and began in promising fashion, scoring on his debut against Chelsea in the Community Shield.

Unfortunately though, a series of injuries meant he struggled for consistency and as a result, fell down the pecking order.

He had spent the second half of last season at his old club in an attempt to keep them in the Bundesliga, but was unable to help them avoid relegation.

The Bosnia and Herzegovina international returned to Arsenal this summer but has been used sparingly by Mikel Arteta, having featured in just 5 games across all competitions.

In total he made 118 appearances for the club, scoring five goals and contributing 15 assists.

The departure of Kolasinac is a controversial one, as it is another player out of the door for Arsenal, who recently had their game against Tottenham in the north London derby called off due to a lack of players because of COVID, injuries and the Africa Cup of Nations.

Speaking on talkSPORT moments before the deal was announced, QPR striker Charlie Austin singled out Arsenal and said that clearer rules are needed to avoid more postponements.

"They've all got 25 man squads and there's got to be a fine line," he said on Drive.

"Injuries happen, they happen all the way through the year, and covid has unfortunately been a bizarre situation over the last two-and-a-half-years with football.

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"But there's got to be a line surely, where clubs will have to tell the people that are above, who actually has covid and the ones that are injured.

"It wouldn't surprise me, come the end of January they say 'right that's it, no more postponements' because the easy option is that AFCON is taken out of it, them players come back and the squads can be here.

"I think that just makes a full laughing stock of it all," Austin added when asked about Arsenal loaning players out.

"I understand if there is covid going on, it happens, but don't go rub your nose in it to everybody else and go and loan three players out.

"[They] can't say, 'we want the game to be called off' and then it comes across, [Pablo] Mari is off on loan, that's ridiculous."