Arsenal apparently want £10 Million for their captain Laurent Koscielny, who has 12 months left on his contract but he is asking the club to allow him to leave for free.
According to reports coming out of France, the 33-year-old wants Arsenal to terminate his contract so that he can join up with with French Ligue 1 side Bordeaux.
Bordeaux and Arsenal have been in discussions about a deal for Koscielny but have been unable to come to an agreement.
Koscielny has been a great servant for Arsenal but the chances of them allowing him to leave for nothing are zero, not with the restricted budget in place.
Arsenal will sell Koscielny and probably for a fair bit less than the reported £10 Million but Bordeaux will have to offer up something to make the deal happen.
Time is against Koscielny, he is not getting any younger and will want to be playing as his career comes to an end, and so sitting out the final year of his contract, while an option, is not desirable.
To some extent, he has earned a free transfer but unfortunately for him, the circumstances mean that Arsenal has to play hardball. There is no time for sentimentality when funds are needed to bring in new players.
It is likely that a deal will be done but money will have to be forthcoming, that is the bottom line.
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