Arsene Wenger has confirmed that Laurent Koscielny will be out of action for 6 months after suffering an Achilles injury which requires surgery to repair.
The French international went down injured early in the defeat to Atletico Madrid last week, and early fears that he had done something serious have been realised.
The 32 year old won’t be seen in an Arsenal shirt again until the end of this year, and the hard work on his rehabilitation will start from now.
Asked how he was, the manager said, “Koscielny is devastated, he has surgery and that means he will be out for 6 months.
“You will not see him before the end of December, beginning of December at the best. It’s a blow in his final year for the national team, so you never know.
“We always try to be positive, you try to support people when they suffer, and they do suffer in this case.
“It’s unusual because he had a tendinopathy for a long time, but usually it doesn’t go to rupture.
“In this case it did, I don’t know why.”
All we can do is wish him well, but his absence leaves a real gap in terms of experience, and it seems more and more likely that we’ll make a purchase in this area in the summer.
The question is – who is going to make that purchase?
Unveiling…. Johny Evans!
Ich!
To be honest, I’d much rather see what can happen if the new manager can blood Chambers and Holding together as a new centre-half pairing. I think there is definitely a player in Holding, I am not so sure about Chambers, although I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt to see what a new manager can get out of him as an individual, and the pair of them together. Personally I just think that if there is a ‘type’ of player that the English game is good at forging, it is the centre-half. There have been… Read more »
To be honest, we all probably saw it coming. If only he made it through the Atletico match I’m pretty sure he’d not have played again this season. Fate can be a bitch sometimes
Poor b*gger.
Another Santi, not quite fit enough but playing until his body gave up. He deserved going to the World Cup.
Only upside is forcing us to get another CB, but even that isn’t great for Kos the boss.
This injury could in some way explain the sudden dip of form from Koscielny.
Hope he gets back to playing football again but at what level can he play will be a big question.?
The curse of the Arsenal captain for the last decade or so. So gutted for the boss missing his last World Cup in his national colours.
Of course Sven Mislintat. He’s not just a chief scout he’s the head of recruitment. I would be really happy if he unearths another gem at CB. We shouldn’t be spending 30 million on a CB. Spend the money on a top winger/striker and a top midfielder. When you have players who can manipulate the ball well and control the possession then any average defence will look World class. Cazorla proved it when we went on an unbeaten stretch in multiple seasons. We started 4-4-2 last game with Iwobi on the wings. I say move Aubameyang to the wings(iwobi to… Read more »
Let’s fill the playing 11 with all strikers.. why defend unnecessarily??
Lewandoski is not the answer . If he was Bayern Munich would have played in the last two CL finals. He was shocking against Real. The guy cannot control the ball or even utilise the few chances he got!
Since he scored four or five for Dortmund against Real, he is a pale shadow of himself and sometimes I even wonder why a team like Real would be interested in him? I think those are just press rumours.
All you down voters don’t realize that we were struggling to get near the box when we played Atletico. With Auba suspended Laca looked lonely and couldn’t even get a proper touch. We are one injury/suspension away from a crisis upfront. I never said we shouldn’t improve defence but that should not be a priority(atleast when it comes to spending the maximum $$$). Ever wonder why Liverpool are so good despite having a shit defence? We need one more winger/striker whoever that maybe. We can have a debate on whether it’s Lewandoski/Icardi/Reus/Bale/Ousmane Dembele/Insigne/Martial type that we need.. but it’s clear… Read more »
Too much FIFA is bad.
Very sad news, he is a great guy and I hope that this is not the end of his Arsenal career. We needed to reinforce our defence. Now even more so. I think that he may become a bit-part player. The only silver lining is that we will have tremendous quality on our bench at CB. Love the Boss!
The pain must’ve been unbearable. Feel so sorry, but at least our youngsters get their chance
Get well completely Kos! It looks like next season will be another where our captain will hardly play.
The new Manager will choose a new Captain and it doesn’t have to be Koscienly.
The guy clearly done everything within his power to mitigate the effects of this chronic condition, from steroid injections to taking up yoga. It seems however he has tendinopathy in both his achilles with the right one going pop against Madrid. Even if he recovers from this rupture, its still going to be an ongoing issue for what is left of his career. Clearly we needed another CB before this issue arouse, the desire by the club to move Mustafi on is hardly a secret, although replacing him with Johnny Evans was hardly an inspiring choice. However with Kos out… Read more »
Hand Wilshire the arm band make home want to sign that contract
So sad for Kos man, he deserved a spot in this WC and with that squad who knows if he wouldnt have lifted the damn thing? France’s most consistent defender for a while. We will need his experience, if not on the pitch week in week out, around the dressing room. Yes we will need a top experienced CB, but someone like Chambers is not wet behind the ear. With Mustafi + new guy, Kos part time, Chambers and Holding, that’s not bad. Oh and a RB for competition. And who’s going to make that purchase, I don’t know. But… Read more »
This really comes from who Gazidis and Raul decide wants to come in. And to a lesser (possibly) indirectly Mislintat (as he seems to be dictating the player types coming in even before we have a new manager to dictate the style of play). If it is a more defensive manager then the current defenders can do a job. It really depends on what the management feels is acceptable to the fans in terms of attacking/defensive balance. We certainly won’t be getting an anti-football guy. But to support a Pep or Klopp will take huge investment. Look at Pep/City, they… Read more »
Liverpool spent 75m on VVD, and we didn’t want to spend 28m on a key position at a critical time.
Look I love the player, but thought all season having your best cb hobbled and trying to play him was at the root of the defensive problems. This year Lk was not close to the player he was inwas in past seasons.
Our record would have been better playing one of the twins in his place every game.
Achilles ruptures often happen for no reason. I blew mine out making a basic cut in an indoor match at half speed and was in really good shape and never had any issue with my achilles before. Six months is the extreme short end of the recovery period and for someone at Koscielny’s age and history of achilles issues my guess is it will be a good bit longer. Of course he will need to get into “match” shape before playing and as often happens with long term injury returns (esp at Arsenal) is there are other issues that pop… Read more »