Arsenal defender Laurent Koscielny has admitted he is set to leave the club when his contract expires in 2020, but why announce that now? The Frenchman joined the Gunners back in 2010 and has made over 320 appearances for the club, becoming one of the most consistent performers under former boss Arsene Wenger, but his ongoing injury problems have now become a real problem.
At the age of 32 he is now one of the most experienced members of the squad and will be key into helping the new arrivals settle into life at the Emirates. But with new boss Unai Emery looking to the future, he has brought in Sokratis from Borussia Dortmund, while also handing both Calum Chambers and Rob Holding new deals with the Englishmen finally set to get a real chance at playing on a regular basis.We are all hoping that Mustafi also improves under Emery and it looks like Mavropanos has every intention of trying to break into the starting line-up as well.
That means Koscielny could find game time hard to come by when he returns from his injury later in the season, and he has already started to plan life after the Emirates. ‘I’m under contract until June 2020. Afterwards? I’m thinking of moving on but I do not know where,’ Koscielny told French publication Nice-Martin.
‘This is not relevant anyway, I am in England, my family too.’
I am a big fan of the Frenchman and firmly believe he is one of the most underrated defenders in the premier League, so it is sad to hear that he could be out for the first half of the season with a serious injury.
But I do not agree with him announcing now that he is considering life after the Emirates as his full concentration should be to get fit and then return to help the club claim a Champions League spot. He is an experienced guy and not a 20-year old kid who is looking to earn a nice big contract, so he should be know not to even mention that he is thinking about his next move.
There is a time and place to talk about your future, and right now is not that time Laurent, but perhaps he has now realised that he could have played his last game for the Gunners. Maybe he’ll follow Mertesacker into the youth coaching set-up?
Iomie
Yes, maybe he could pass his knowledge to the youth in the future, but currently he simply cannot go back to his peak level and I don’t think he could do that
Arsenal need a quick, tall and commanding CB to go back to the top four this season. Hopefully Emery’s strategy can help the current defenders
gotanidea i think next summer we should buy a very good worldclass centerback and sell the average CBs we have.
unai emery should try his best and navigate this season with the likes of sokratis,chambers,mustafi.
to enable us get top 4 finish.
then next summer we should look at the likes of kalidou koulibaly,harry maguire.
big,commanding,agile centreback to marshal our defence for the next few years.
Koulibaly has proven himself last season, but I don’t think Arsenal would be willing to spend too much on a CB
The cheaper alternative would be Yerry Mina, but he seems to be headed to Man United
I’ve been expecting you to mention that name again along with Adama Traore… the solutions to our problems!!! hahaha, cos one had a good WC and another played a season in the championship…. It’s funny bro
Of course he hasn’t played his last game for Arsenal. Stop trolling
He is still only 32 and he is still good enough to play. He is still easily our best CB. Even though he isnt World class anymore
koscienly is the best CB we have heard for the last few years.
people forget so quickly.
once he is fit he walks straight into our first 11.
wait and see.
Not so sure, I think we may have seen the last of him. He clearly wants to go back home as he stated when his contract expires, however I think it will be before that. I think chambers will be great this season & will be our best defender!
I’m with you James 79. I’m hoping that while Kos unable to play I hope he spends time coaching up Chambers and Holding.
Chambers looks good heading into this season, and would not surprise me a bit to see him paired with Mustafi. I think he’s a good candidate to stabalize the back, and can play out from the back better than any CB we have at the moment.
I was impressed how he settled Hudson down after that dude roasted Bellerin the first hour and more. Hope he beats out Sokratis to be honest.
And Chambers is going to fulham on loan. With Koss injured for a while. Hope socratis will be good enough and fit enough for the PL.
Im not so sure either he’s saying he wants to finish his career at french outfit Lorient also his woes last season include captain of arsenal in arguably are worst season for years, in that same season he sustains a serious injury and as if that wasn’t enough to deflate him he missed out on a chance of the highest honour in world football. i see there’s need here to appointing a captain.
…see there’s need here to appoint a captain.
If Morata had taken 9 shots on 2pac Amaru Shakur, bro PAC would still be alive??
I’m still positive, I ain’t scared of City and Chelsea.
Our boys are looking to prove lots of points this season, plus I love the football we are playing now which isn’t the boring Sideways passes
I think your right Eddie, exciting times ahead & I think we will see some below par players from previous seasons step up to the plate & surprise a few
?
Realistically at 32 Laurent Koscielny is too old to Control Arsenal’s CB. I thougt the New boss was awere of this. It not he bloody well should be. Sell Koscielny to the highest bidder and move on.
lomie, he was asked about the future and didn’t say he is leaving only that he is thinking about it when his contract ends. He’s being honest. That’s a couple of years time and before that time comes I really think he would not be starting for us anyway. Stop trying to make mountains out of mole hills. By the way, thanks City for stuffing Chelsea.
gotanidea i think next summer we should buy a very good worldclass centerback and sell the average CBs we have.
unai emery should try his best and navigate this season with the likes of sokratis,chambers,mustafi.
to enable us get top 4 finish.
then next summer we should look at the likes of kalidou koulibaly,harry maguire.
big,commanding,agile centreback to marshal our defence for the next few years.
james good point.
city impressive today.
especially bernado silva.
we will beat chelsea but city i think a draw would be great.
I think this is the right time for the boss to announce his future, it gives Arsenal time to deal with it and if we are all being honest with each other, Kos performances have been dropping more and more due to his health issues.
I wish it wasn’t so, I wish Kos could keep playing till he is in his 40s with no drop to performances, I also want to win the lottery… We don’t always get what we want.
If Kos was going to stay then we would have him and Sokratis who would be the ‘mature’ CBs, we would then have Mustafi who is in his prime and those 3 CBs would be blocking Chambers/Holding and Mavrop development.
I am glad that Koss the Boss will be with us for 10 years, a decade with us ^.^
Testimonial time?
I hope so!
Up gunners am very optimistic on the upcoming season.
So am I mate 🙂
While the new pressing has some faults, I can’t wait to see the team get used to it and how well we can do it once we have perfected it, it could really suit our attackers while easing the burden on our CBs so their faults are not so glaring.
Guendouzi has surprised me, I wasn’t expecting anything from a player who wasn’t being chased by every top manager and their granny… but WOW!!!!!
His energy and determination are exhilarating and from what I’ve seen of Torreira, those two could very well be our future CM partnership with either Xhaka sitting behind them as the deep playmaker (high energy ahead to cover his flaws) or Ozil sitting ahead of them in the ACM role… Or throw AMN in the mix as well and we will dominate the middle for YEARS!!!! :D:D:D:D:D
The different gameplans available to us and Emery seems happy to switch formations during the game…
Exciting times ahead 🙂
Regardless what the future holds he is finished. I will miss this guy and its a pity that he has spend his peek with a team which has done almost nothing. Could have played for Bayern once up on a time and win big things in football. Arsenal are going to have a hard time in finding a good defender as him.
… i think chambers has a golden opportunity to consolidate his defensive role in simple terms there’s no time like the oncoming season to prove your worth. i know it could take some time but i hope Mountain-Mavro comes to the fore as an option too – certainly he’s the height to do the job.
I hope Chambers gets given more gametime, I think he looks eager to impress Emery and he puts his all into his game, he is still a little raw but Wenger hasn’t really helped push his def side.
What impresses me the most about the young CB is his command, he is vocal which helps communication between him and his CB partner while he is also confident on the ball to play it out from the back.
When thinking about his communication, the partnerships he builds with other CBs around his seniority level is one to nurture, both Holding and Mavrop do well alongside him. Better alongside Chambers than Mustafi which for me speaks volume about Chambers intelligence, as I said earlier, he is raw still but the promise is clear to see if we want to see it.
@Midkemma – i agree entirely. chambers is an effective vocal presence and has shown to have an air of confidence to play out from the back. i believe he’ll achieve and come good. he had already been shown the door and came back (from boro) his commitment is there now for all to see, im also enthusiastic to see he does incredibly well.
i agree with the suggestion kos is probably finished – i see there’s room for optimism if these two have the conviction to step up to the plate.
Emery was watching the game against Chelsea. This man is simple awesome.
Emery wants to have some ideas about the two teams….. Arsenal will win their first three games of the season and from there anything can happen…I’m saying this once again..we will beat man city
Kos is a top class defender once he is fit, he will finish up his contract and move back to France to retire, would be nice if we could make some funds off him but that is highly unlikely to happen.
Koscielney had a poor season last year and is no longer the player he was.In my opinion he was never world class but he was the best of a bad bunch.Chambers and Mac should be played against City.Socratis looks assess Mustafi but it’s too early to write him off completely.
Window Still Open We Can Still Get A Cb
After being so long injured , even when he made short lived comebacks from his chronic achilles injury, he is unlikely ever to play a meaningful role at Arsenal again. Life moves on and once you are 32 and out of action for so long, the team moves on and this has already happened. At best he MAY make a few appearances only but even that is in my view unlikely, in Prem matches at least. For near certain no major role to play for us again.