Should Koscielny be allowed to buy out his Arsenal contract?

Koscielny Can Afford To Buy His Release by Dan Smith

Instead of releasing a statement admitting he’s been over emotional and made a mistake, Laurent Koscielny and his agent are exploring the option of buying out his contract. If this happens, our ‘captain’ will lose the little respect he has left with gooners.

His stance seems to be, that having suffered physically and mentally in the last 12 months he deserves to be released due his near decade long, ‘good service’ (someone tell this man. loyalty works both ways).

His argument might be that it is the club themselves who insist on strict 12 month rolling extensions for over 30, forcing him to consider long term options. You can see why a 3 year offer to return home to France would be tempting but although he’s clearly agreed terms with someone, that side don’t want to pay our asking price. This is why Arsenal need to hold firm, not just for the sake of themselves but the good of the sport.

Because it’s crazy if a player is so rich, he can essentially pay for his own transfer. Let’s say for example a Ligue 1 side have enquired about our valuation and it’s 10 million, the going rate in this market. They then rightfully feel that on top of wages rumoured to be between 75-90 000 a week, it’s a big package for someone past his best. They then talk to his representatives (because everyone talks off record) and realise just how much the centre back wants to come back home.
If the player himself could buy out his contract, that’s approx. 4 million, saving them 6. Officially they couldn’t loan him the money, but they could give the then free agent a signing on fee of …….That’s right 4 million. It stinks.

Instead of FIFA changing rules for the sake of it they should clamp down on this, else contracts will become pointless.

This is an asset we developed, coached and made into an international. He was happy to take a pay rise, no one forced him to commit to 2020, he didn’t even ask for a 1-year option. Therefore, we deserve something to show for our investment.

This is where I miss an Adams, Keown, Dixon, etc. Someone needs to teach this generation the value of loyalty to the shirt.

32 Comments

  1. I see no reason as-long as he Does not gain financially from any deal .
    He said last season that he wanted to go home and play a season before he retired .
    He’s been on treatment table for the last 2 Seasons playing when he can.
    He’s a player who’s never moaned always played to his best ability and always earned his weekly wage .
    We had fans on the other article yesterday saying he shouldn’t be aloud to leave and we are not a soft touch anymore ,but these are the same fans who have been moaning about these are wengers players not emery’s ,and we have a chance to get rid of one and they still
    Moan !!
    And the same fans that have been saying get rid of ozil anyway possible but moan that we might lose 3 million on Kos.

    1. Get rid of them

      We don’t need players that can’t focus and the ones that play too safe in the field

    2. It really is a sad state of affairs when even our captain doesn’t want to play for us. Imagine the message that sends to any prospective signings, what a disgrace from an otherwise model professional.

    3. @Dan Kit
      The problem is, this Koscielny saga has now entered the public domain. If Arsenal gives in to his demands, rest assured we shall never get a penny in transfer fees ever again. Want to join us? Okay, why make us pay £40M for you when we can give you the £8M you need to buy out your contract and toss in a £3M bonus for helping us save money?

      1. Maybe he knows he can’t play top lvl football anymore and will be on the bench next season .i don’t get the problem of letting him go .hes been a great servant for us and now the fans turn on him without the whole story!
        Remember we are in great hands now with this new regime .??‍♂️

        1. Dan kit, isn’t it funny how things come back to haunt you? The dawning of a new era, the fans have got their club back, get rid of all the dross, everything was AW’s fault, the new regime will show how the club should be run, no more problems, out with the old and in with the new, AW’s gone and our problems are solved….fast forward to today and what do we have?

          Complete chaos, from transfer decisions to player unrest to europa football…so the easy way to solve it all? Blame AW!!!

          As for Kos, I disagree with your conclusions, but agree about his service to the club.
          He signed a new contract and didn’t refuse his paycheck when injured.

          The club need to show that players are duty bound to honour agreements, just as the clubs themselves are.

          He has actually broken a legally binding agreement and just imagine what the headlines would have been if The Arsenal had refused to pay him while he was out injured?

          He should not get a penny from the club until they return from the USA, then he should be fined a significant amount of money, immediately be placed on the transfer list, with a fee attached and told to go on gardening leave in order to stop a sanchez like poisoning effect in the dressing room.

          UNLESS OF COURSE and you make this VERY valid point that we don’t know the full story and if he was promised something that hasn’t happened…that will, of course, be down to AW then.

          Time for Kos to tell the fans why he made this decision.

      2. Look up Webster ruling, it will help clear out some of your confusion on the matter . Doesn’t apply to Kos though so legally he is able to buy out his contract.
        I personally have mixed feelings on this, like him as a player but not so much as a captain. I think for a player at that stage of his career if he wants a chill period before he retires in a less competitive league sure but pay up.
        Here’s a wacky scenario though, Messi’s left over contract is about 70M , legally he can do same as what Kos is considering

  2. I support you totally. A team is assess by who is leader is. If this is the type of leading the team it is therefore not a surprise the team has not been able to achieve its objective.

  3. Arsenal should discuss with Bordeaux, to find the best price for Koscielny. Keeping players like him would only damage the team’s spirit further

    Apparently Bordeaux offered a three-year contract to Koscielny, whereas Arsenal might not want to offer him any extension at the end of this season, even after his nine years of service

    This still doesn’t justify his behaviour as a professional. Arsenal have to move faster to realize the transfer and find a younger CB as soon as possible

  4. I did wonder about that! What would happen if Koscilny himself paid up the remainder of his 1 year contract, and got the money back from his new club as a signing on fee? Would it be legal? Would FIFA or someone step in? Could it even be proven they were working together to defraud Arsenal?

    Whatever the case, I think Koscielny has shown his true colours. A dressing room virus in the making, with the potential of poisoning the whole team. Shucks, we are now between a rock and a hard place. If we release him the club sets a nasty future precedence for players, if we keep him we get a player on big wages sitting on the bench for a year. Best case scenario would be for Koscielny to get a season ending injury..before the season starts..then everyone would save face.

    I think the club should throw Koscielny in the reserves like Levy did with Modric when he was trying to arm twist Spurs for that Chelsea move that eventually fell through.

    1. Afraid it is legal, Neymar paid up his €220m wages to get out of Barcelona. PSG then signed him as a free agent and gave him guess what €220m as a signing on fee.

      I am certain Koscielny has already discussed all of this with his agent lawyers and representatives of his next club.

      I just hope that Ozil, Mustafi, Mkhitaryan, Kolasinac and Elneny all do the same.

    2. Modric still got his move, and as setting an example it, a bit late, Sanchez behaviour was no better and let no go further back in time otherwise there will be too many players to name for their bad behaviour in order to get their moves,Nasri,van Persie,arshavin,adebayor,Gallas……

  5. Get rid of him. But not for free. He wants to move? His new club WILL cough up the fee. If they don’t want to, then the player can get the money. He earns 5m a year so shouldn’t be a problem.

    But we are NOT a charity. Wenger used to be sentimental, give huge contracts to likes of Arteta, Diaby, even Jenkinson and look how they turned out. They’ve all milked the club and we are thinking where the moneys gone?

    Shameful by Koscielny. More shameful the fans who would let him go for free rather than receive 5-10m.

    1. No offense intended but
      Honestly he deserves more respect than “Get rid of him”. He’s been here for over a decade and was our best central defender since Vermaelen. He’s been loyal to us. Other teams wanted him

      “Sell him if he wants to go” or “transfer him” is more respectful than “Get rid of him”.

  6. It’s clear that Arsenal is not a happy place at the moment. No new players to brighten the spirits and give hope. No clear out of our many players who are liabilities. Added to that Emery’s bosses, Sanllehi and Vinkatesham are both merchandising men, and are not ‘Arsenal’ men. At least now Edu is there Emery will have a football ‘friend’. Losing Sven Mislintat means we are incapable of completing a tranfer. Sad because last year we were so pro-active. Now we have so many ‘liability’ players the future does not bode well. Perhaps Koscielny is a smokescreen to cover how damaged things are at Arsenal. A pre-season tour is upon us and no players to bed in. What can we say? Something isn’t right for sure.

  7. Should Arsenal sponsor Koscielny’s transfer to Bordeaux?

    As we all know, Arsenal is the richest club in the world and spends more than any other club in the transfer market, so a few million to Bordeaux and Koscielny is really just spare change.

    Furthermore, Arsenal fans strongly feel that money grows on trees at the club and often complains that the club has too much to spend, so please share some of our immense wealth with beloved players and friendly clubs. We don’t have to wait for Christmas to share and care

  8. I would say, do what you need to to wrap this up asap. It is incredibly damaging to our club and will undoubtedly influence our pre-season preparations.

    I feel that if Koscielny came to us and requested to leave this window that we should have honoured that and explored a buyer that suits both parties. He knows that money is tight for us, so if he has thrown his toys out of the cot because we are trying to get a fair price for him then I would be very disappointed in him.

    However we do need to resolve the matter immediately, even if we get enough for him to pay the wages of Cahill for example. That would then free up the Koscielny wages that would more than cover someone like Tierney. Cahill would probably give us more games a season than Koscielny and hopefully he could be a good influence on guys like Holding and Chambers.

  9. I could not agree more with the artcle. Loyalty MUST always work both ways and all players are highly rewarded for their efforts(or in Ozil’s case non -efforts!) I feel sure that I am in vast numbered company , when I say that I have always supported the club first and always and above any particular player-even when that player be Henry/ Bergkamp and other superb players. They STILL do not rank above the club and never can nor ever should. IF KOS WANTS OUT, THEN HE MUST PAY THE FEE THE CLUB DEMANDS. Simple as that. It is called justice!

    1. Can’t help yourself with the Ozil comment can you.Si lets see where I can start with you this morning.You never came back to me on a thread on Tuesday.You will recall is was about you deciding “The Vast Majority” you continually spout was made up from this particular Blog-Site.
      I was not the only one to comment that this is wrong of you to believe that statistically these comments reflect the accurate findings.YOU DID NOT REPLY.It was pointed out on another that YOU consistently refuse to accept statistics of any sort to be an accurate reflection of the true picture of anything.Yet you conveniently use the JA contributors as the statistics you do not recognise anyway.YOU DID NOT REPLY.When I stated that for someone who does not even attend matches any longer (unless you are presented with someone’ from JA seasons tickets as a very kindly gift for a couple of games last season) how you could possibly answer the question of how the crowd home and away judge Mesut Ozil-guess what? YOU DID NOT REPLY.
      So Jon-When you did attend the two home games last season after being gifted the seats from a very respected contributor to this site-Not Kev) how did you find the crowd in their reaction to Ozil?Obviously never going to games nowadays means you do not get the opportunity to witness first hand what the general crowd reaction is to a player do you?So since having the opportunity to watch the Arsenal live you had the chance to give a more balanced opinion of support for Ozil.Butcwhen asked for this again-YOU DID NOT REPLY.
      Seems to be a bit of a consistency here don’t you think?
      I get why fans want Ozil out-I really do.I fully understand his performances last season can only be described as average at best.He was inconsistent and poor at times.But you cannot day he was Lazy because the statistics prove you wrong.Ahh-but you don’t do statistics do you?Unless of course it suits you to do so.
      So for me the only way to gauge the true feeling of crowd reaction is not from your armchair or the Pub but from actually being at the game.Many on this site will never have the opportunity in their lives of being able to watch Arsenal play.But it does not stop them supporting their team.You had the opportunity to go to two games last season.You were very kindly gifted those seats at no cost.So this should have allowed you to go into these games feeling very privileged bearing in mind you haven’t been for so long.You should have been pleased to be back to where you used to go years before.You should have been pleased to have accepted such a kind gesture.So tell me-did you go to these games full of hatred for Ozil before the game started or did you feel that you have attended to watch a game involving Arsenal free of cost for the first time in years so let’s enjot the game and cheer the team on.Or did your blind hatred of Mesut Ozil not allow you to do this?
      As always when you are put on the spot and asked to answer-I WILL NOT EXPECT A REPLY.

      1. Hi Phil,I pretty much agree with the majority of your posts and I kind of get this one to. I attend all the home matches and some away games aswell. I have to admit Ozil has become my pet hate and I think like other supporters I have become resigned to the fact that Ozil isn’t going to play well. I’ve said this before that Ozil can give you a 10 out of 10 moment every few games but if the rest of the time it’s 3 out of ten then effectively we are playing with only 10 men. People say statistics don’t lie but regularly I see Ozil make a 50/50 challenge look like 60/40 in favour of the opposition, he wimps out of challenges and bends his back to competing for a headed. I’ve been going to games since 1974 and been a season ticket holder for over 25 years and I want people to die for the shirt (not literally, I don’t think we now really get this from any of the team but especially Ozil.
        Going back to the original post I’m disappointed with Kos as he was one player that went quietly about his business and a player that I could relate to. Although we don’t know the full story I still do not think he should be released for free as if this happens it could open the flood gates for all the players. No player is bigger than the club, COYG’S

        1. Yeah Tony I agree Ozil will never dive head first through a brick walk for the Team.But then neither did a lot of players.I just cannot and will not accept he doesn’t try.Do you believe he trains all week well enough to impress the manager to play him and the goes onto the pitch to just stroll around like a walk in the park? I don’t.
          I don’t believe any player Delbert goes out to play badly.These are all very fit athletes who can all pit in a shift and Ozil is no different.But I accept he seems frustrated at the System and with his team mates at times and that frustrates me in itself because the player is better than that and should be proving this on the pitch.
          In regards Kos-I again agree.He has had all summer to sort this out and as the Captain of a Club that continued to support him through his very many injury problems he has shown Arsenal a total lack of respect.The Club deserve better than that from the player and I hope he is dealt with severely.If we do not get an offer that is acceptable to ARSENAL FOOTBALL CLUB then he stays.But he will be playing Thursday nights only I believe unless it suits the team otherwise.

          1. Phil I think some of it with Ozil is that his persona shows disinterest at times (my opinion). I don’t think we are currently playing to his strengths and maybe with better players around him he will get his game back. Just hate the way he goes missing in games. He seems to run around a lot but rarely achieves…. Again just my opinion!

      2. Am on holiday FYI, PHIL,so have just read the above bitter and bilious post , which is unworthy of you, in a hurried moment whilst away. When I return home on Tues coming I will fully reply . You may be SURE of that! You cannot even get your false allegations about me right, so I AM NOT AT ALL SURPRISED YOU STILL SUPPORT A FRAUDULENT PLAYER.

  10. Please the money
    The club is requesting
    From Bordeaux for signing
    Kochielny what is the money
    For.. Kochielny deserves to
    Be listened to…….

    Not as if they are buying anyone
    With Kochielny’s money..just
    Enriching clubs pocket

  11. 10 million seems excessive for someone of his age and injury record with a 12 month contract.
    4 mill and pleasant send off would’ve been a win win.

  12. Let Kozzy go. The guy is turning 34 year old soon and has never caused any scene when it comes to contract negotiations in the 8 or so seasons he has been here.
    I think Arsenal are asking for far too much for a player his age and it is irritating him.

    We have players that are not work hard for the team but are just sitting on massive wages. Defrauding our club out of money for no return.

    Kozzy is 33 years old and has been a model player for all the time he has been here. Ask for reasonable money for him.

    I just want to hear his side of the story.

  13. Maybe lower the fee to 4-5 million, and new club can pay that. Otherwise, Kos can honor the year on his contract.

    Would he play for free for 1 year?

    Honor contract, new team pays, or Kos buys contract out. People talk about respect, where is his? Arsenal made him, and this is how he repays club? Shame on him.

  14. Like other Arsenal fans I am not happy with our Captain’s, Kos’ decision not to travel to the U.S. with the team because of his desire to return to play in France. The issue now whether Kos should be able to buy out his contract. I am not really sure what the answer is although I have an idea what it ought to be. We have seen Naymer and Griezman buy out their contract by paying the release clause but I do not think there is a release clause in Kos’ contract. But we can see that the release clauses in Neymar and Griezman’s contract are far in excess of their cumulative salaries over the balance of the contract. This leads one to the inference that release clauses or transfer fees do not have to equal the balance of salary over the remainder of player’s contract. I therefore do not think Kos will be able to buy out his contract.
    Having said the above, my position has always been that a release clause or transfer fee should not exceed the cumulative balance of the player’s salary for the remainder of the term of the contract. If a player is “very important” that importance should be reflected in the player’s salary. You cannot pay a player 100K a week and demand 100M release clause or transfer fee. This is where I think FIFA and UEFA need to step in to protect the players egainst exploitation and the clubs against shortchanging.

  15. Like other Arsenal fans I am not happy with our Captain’s, Kos’ decision not to travel to the U.S. with the team because of his desire to return to play in France. The issue now whether Kos should be able to buy out his contract. I am not really sure what the answer is although I have an idea what it ought to be. We have seen Naymer and Griezman buy out their contract by paying the release clause but I do not think there is a release clause in Kos’ contract. But we can see that the release clauses in Neymar and Griezman’s contract are far in excess of their cumulative salaries over the balance of the contract. This leads one to the inference that release clauses or transfer fees do not have to equal the balance of salary over the remainder of player’s contract. I therefore do not think Kos will be able to buy out his contract.
    Having said the above, my position has always been that a release clause or transfer fee should not exceed the cumulative balance of the player’s salary for the remainder of the term of the contract. If a player is “very important” that importance should be reflected in the player’s salary. You cannot pay a player 100K a week and demand 100M release clause or transfer fee. This is where I think FIFA and UEFA need to step in to protect the players against exploitation and the clubs against shortchanging.

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