Laurent Koscielny going on strike has done Arsenal a massive favour and forced the club to change its plans.
It really does appear that Unai Emery and the board had no intentions of bringing in a central defender. not going by the credible transfer reports we have been receiving.
It is fairly accepted that Dani Ceballos, Kieran Tierney, William Saliba, Everton Soares and Wilfried Zaha are the players the club are targeting.
Of those, only one is a central defender and he will not be available for a year.
Anyone watching the Arsenal mini-tour to the USA cannot fail to notice that the defence is still a shambles and that a central defender has to be the priority and it beggars belief that Arsenal has not clicked on to that.
Koscielny effectively going on strike leaves a huge gap at the back, he may not have played every game but he would have been significant throughout the season and he does need replacing.
If the club does not sign a central defender and goes with what we got then the consequences will be harsh and the fans will not forget, it would be negligence of the highest order.
Basically, the way I see it, if Koscielny would have stayed for another season the chances are no new central defender would have been brought in, that simply cannot be the case now.
So, in effect, the 33-year-old has done the club a massive favour even if they have not realised it yet.