If there was one single thing that we all know about last season it is that the Arsenal defence needs a massive overhaul and you would hope that the club thinks the same thing.
But the latest news about Laurent Koscielny is one of concern I must admit.
It is being reported that the club is considering opening up talks with the 33-year-old about a contract extension that will see him end his career at the Emirates.
Now, I have no doubts that some of you will be sentimental and some will argue that his experience will serve us well but that then ignores the fact that he has been a poor captain and is well past his best.
If Arsenal wants to send out the wrong signal then this is the perfect way to do it.
Koscielny has been a great servant and he deserves immense respect but he no longer offers us anything in defence, he is a liability and we have to be brutal if we are to turn things around.
His so-called experience did us absolutely no good at the end of the season so why would it be of any use to us next season?
Apparently, at least four clubs are interested in signing the Frenchman. Lyon Rennes, Bayer Leverkusen and AC Milan have all been linked with him at various times and it was expected he would depart this summer.
But Arsenal slapping a ridiculous £10 Million price tag on him has put them all off, I mean, who the hell is going to pay that amount of money for a 33-year-old that is in decline?
I know some of you will disagree passionately with me but I see no justification for offering Koscielny another contract. I don’t want to be cruel but he is just not good enough anymore and keeping him tells me the club have learned nothing and their ambition is very questionable.
Kos is a CB that is a must keep…
his experience is vital for the club and the younger players
he will make a good 3rd choice….
This is not Fifa 19, no quality CB will want to sit on the bench
I agree John. You need the experienced guy, who would sit on bench, but is experienced enough to be ready to get involved without having to take time to adapt.
Plus, we lack quality options at the moment, 10mil is not that high for these circumstances.
I disagree. Ever since his achilles problems, he hasn’t been the same. He is too slow and he has fitness problems. If we can get 10m for him, we should take it. 10m with a 45m budget is alot. I would also sell Mustafi immediately.
We already have talented Dinos, Holding, Medley, Bielik and Chambers coming back (who can also play defensive mid if needed). Maybe if we can add Saliba. And then you have Sokratis for the experience. Thats more than enough. Thats 7 options you have at cb. Maybe we can loan Dinos and Medley out.
I would have loved to add an experienced, left footed central defender. Inigo Martinez my dream choice, but Mario Hermoso might be a cheaper solution. But I dont see any of those happen.
I would keep him.
1. He was arguably the best CB last season
2. His experience will help younger players
3. Since the end of the Invincibles error he has been one of our Best CBs. Helped us stay in top 4 a long time, 3 fa cups. A little bit of loyalty wouldn’t be amiss
4. He will be useful with our yearly injury list.
I think last season He was my 5th favourite player
1. Aubameyang
2. Lacazette
3. Torreira
4. Guendouzi
5. Koscielny
Sell MUSTAFI!!!
Btw
I don’t think £10 mil is anymore ridiculous than £10 mil We spent for Cech
But I agree it’s too high
Innit… you’re back!!! ?
For the most part I agree with your list. Koscelney is being blamed for having to make up for the absence of any decent cover by the primary defensive midfielder Granite Xhaka, before that one people were blaming him when he had to cover for the painfully slow Mertersacker. Give the man his due respect, he is still our best defender and still one of the best in the league
I agree Innit, for all these good reasons, he must stay and can’t be replaced.
Ans yes; Mustafi out, so do sokratis, chambers, mikki Torreira, Xhaka, all out for 155M.
Get Dombele (50), Koulibaly (105)=155M
Sarabia(15), Kone (15), Saliba (20) = 45M
budget allowed.
Leno.
Bellerin,Kos,Kouli,Kone.
Niles,Dombele,Sarabia.
Ozil
Laca&Auba.
That’s a team starting season with ambition to win titles; EPL, cup & Europa.
Pf course Ozil,Auba ans everyone bé at their top. Not drepressed.
.
He is no longer fast and strong, but currently he is our only perfect captain
Should he choose to stay, our captaincy problem would be solved
We still have leadership problem even though he is in the field, but I can’t imagine how the team would perform if Xhaka, Ozil or Bellerin becomes the captain
If we buy a CB, and a club is willing to pay around 10mill, I say he goes. That offer would be too good for somebody around 35 and is regressing every season. He’s not much of a captain anyways so no leadership lost either. Also on 90k a week and that would lower our wage bill.
To admin or anybody who knows what they are talking about. Can we have a piece done on all our youth and where they may possibly fit in.
For example we know we have saka, willock, Eddie, belik, Chambers, holding, Smith-Rowe, amn plus others.
Would be super interesting to see which of these will play where and if they are good enough to fill holes where we really need to be looking for that special transfer.
For example we know amn has been covering rb but we also know we really want to punch him to cm. So do we need a new rb to help/push bellarin when fit.
Like all I have my opinions about them all and would not care if we used them a lot more this year even if that meant struggling for the year.
However I know I do not know enough. Are we as arsenal fans looking at these guys with rose tinted glasses. Are they just the best we have at the minute but against other club youths they don’t stack up?
Anybody help with a detailed article?
Agree with this, it is really strange why they haven’t been given a chance in first team. In other clubs, the so called wonderkids have been integrated to the first team, like Donnaruma, Mbappe, Rashford, De Ligh, etc. In Arsenal, the youngsters are loaned until they turned 24, then they are sold to lesser quality teams.
I reckon Fabregas & Wilshere debutted when they are 17, so are the current youngsters not good enough (maybe it is hyped because they come from our academy) or the current coaching team doesn’t have balls anymore, maybe Top 4 pressure?
People tend to be polar in their judgements. He is the best CB, he has been poor and is at the end if his career. Frankly, he is neither, he is okay, probably have two yrs in okay level in his legs, if not played 35+ matches. I would not start him but he would be good from the bench if needed, in the training sessions, and in the dressing room. I am not in a hurry to dispose him especially that we lack decent options at the back. However, 10million at the last year of his contract and at 33 yrs is good enough.
10mil is not that high nowadays. If it is high, what is a suitable price, 7, 5?
Interesting one. I’ve read alot of comments about keeping Kos on the bench. To be ready for any time we need backup. I think we have more than enough options in terms of youngsters who should be fighting for a spot. My 1st choice would be sokratis and holding followed by mavropanos and beleik. I would love to see arsenal take a risk on youth this season. I think kos can be sold and we should pit the money towards a quality winger like pepe who I have heard nothing about from any club
Now its official. Admin martins, I don’t like your articles. Seriously how can you even consider that a bad news.
Well, as long as it’s official
I beg to differ, Kos at present offers no leadership at all( 1 point from a possible 12 and EL loss), no pace and stamina for a full 90+ minutes of an EPL game, just because other defenders are poor does not make him great.This is football, not a Davis Cup to have a non playing captain.The club is nowhere ruthless and accepts mediocracy. Maybe penny pinching or maybe poor scouting, we do not know what is going on behind closed doors.This is eventually leading to a decline and maybe 5 years from now, overseas Asian or African fans will decline if there is no serious attempt to revive the club.Just like no mass following of AC and Inter Milan in Asia.This season the clear out should start making it a transition year.Next season we should seriously challange(may not win it like Pool) the EPL to maintain our status as an English football powerhouse.
I just think we need to move on. This notion of trying to rationalise poor decisions by the board is a bit revisionist. I like and respect Kos but he is finished as a player that can move us forward.
What did his experience do for us last season or the past 3 seasons where we finished outside of the yop 4?
I am just ready for all these old players to be moved on. They are finished, had there chance and not used it to the maximum. They are stagnant and dormant, so nothing new or surprising is ever magically ever come out of them now.
Get rid and let’s start afresh.
Just read an article on “Untold” where they list all 59 players we have been linked with buying and 21 players reported to be leaving.
The rumours in this window are the craziest I’ve ever known.
This is why I only listen to ORNSTEIN.
What is official in my mind is that their are credible rumours and there are 99% BS ones and that`s why (and it may hurt a few sensitive souls on here)I have come up with the term……….Transfer Window Lickers and unless you pray and worship at the altar of Mesut and ORNSTEIN, then every other soul will be classed as TWL………a Transfer Window Licker…………only those with a sense of humour need to reply !
😆
??
“I mean, who the hell would pay £10 million for a 33 year old who is in decline?”
Well, if he played for another team, we would!?
On that, I agree with you
Brilliant, Declan ??
If this is the way we are continuing, I’m afraid we won’t have any transfer money in the next 2 season. Extending his contract means we are getting zero money for him. Add Vitolo, Perisic, Sokratis, PEA, these players will be between 32-35 years at that time and no club won’t want to get them for decent fee but for free. The core of our first 11 are 30+ years old and we still being linked to more when Emery said we are going youth. I don’t know if this is Emery doing but this will get us nowhere. Football is a glory related sport as well as a business. So you need to make money so that you can spent money. It seems we don’t know how to do both at Arsenal. We need to buy youngsters, develop them and make truck load of money out of them after achieving something with them. Who the fcuk value Torreria at 45m when Lyon want 60m for Ndombele. The point is we don’t need The Boss anymore. We already have his replacement in Sokratis. So get Saliba kid or keep faith with Bieseik
I think Benetia fetched similar, Bellucci for 18m and don’t forget we paid 12m for Cech I know he is goalie but I’m looking at age. I noticed the decline ??? though. To answer your question, Arsenal will, how else will you explain 18m for Sokratis. Going cheap put us in this CB situation now. Add 6m to that 18m, would have got us Diop or Abdou Diallo
Sentimental values have to go out the window as Arsenal need leaders and Koss for as much as he has helped, didnt lead by example when the run in for top 4 & EL Final mattered to Arsenal. Jesus we got hammered in the final & lost 3 winnable games in the run in when top4 was in our own hands and blew it.
Change is needed, youth needs promoted as we have a small budget & shrewd moves in & out for the club is desperately needed. Think alot of people are forgetting Koss wanted to return to France to play put his career does he not? Same with Monreal going back to Spain.
If we can get Tierney & Saliba then they both can go plus get a small fee for both along with Jenko to help make these moves possible. £8 Koss, £7 Monreal & Jenko in the deal with Celtic basically pays Teirneys Fee with a few Million added. Next on the list would have to be a RB & Winger.
Whether we keep Koscielny or not I would like to see Bielek given a chance and go straight into the first team next season. He’s had a couple of years with us then a good season on loan at Charlton, if he’s not given a chance now he will simply leave and another youngster we’ve invested a lot of time and money in will be lost to us. I know not everyone will agree but we all have our opinions.
Jeeez sup with us
Arsenal sells Ospina for 3.5 mills and we criticize management that they undervalue our players. They put a negotiable price tag of 10 mills on our captain, who played 17 games last season scoring 3 goals, 1 yellow, no red, and we criticize management of player
“over value”
Agree wholeheartedly with your rational views Martin.
He indicated last season that he does not intend to extend his contract. He is past his best and we need to bring in the next generation of defenders. Mustaphi flopped and Mavro isn’t ready yet.
Between Rob, Socrates and Chambers we have something to work with. If we bring in a Saliba type player, then we can use Socrates and Holding in PL and Chambers and Mustaphi/New guy in Europa.
I would happily exchange Mustaphi and Koscielny for one good defender.