Arsenal beat stiff competition to snap up Schalke defender Sead Kolasinac... but who is the Gunners new boy?

Arsenal have completed the signing of Sead Kolasinac from Schalke with the defender set for a move to north London on a free transfer this summer.

The Bosnian attracted interest from many Premier League and European top clubs - and was the subject of a failed bid from Chelsea in January. Manchester City, Liverpool, Everton, Juventus and Milan were all also keenly monitoring the defender.

But Arsene Wenger had been tracking the Bosnia and Herzegovina international for some time and the Gunners, after opening negotiations on Monday, staved off fierce competition to land their man.

So who is Sead Kolasinac? 

So a bit of background. The 23-year-old was raised in Karlsruhe, a city in southwest Germany bordering France. He began his youth football there and hopped to Hoffenheim and Stuttgart before landing in Schalke in 2011. 

He broke into the Schalke first team in 2012 and has been a regular at Veltins-Arena ever since. He began his youth career as a central defender or holding midfielder but has since found his home on the left-hand side.

The left back has been capped by Bosnia and Herzegovina, qualifying through his parents, 18 times since 2013. He perhaps has the bogey title as the man who scored the fastest own goal in World Cup history after he turned the ball into the net three minutes into Bosnia and Herzegovina's 2014 group stage defeat by Argentina.