Laurent Koscielny seriously weighed up leaving Arsenal when he found out Arsene Wenger was stepping down as manager.
According to his agent, Stephane Courbis, the Gunners captain had three offers on the table, including one from a club in China, before he suffered a ruptured Achilles in May that ruled him out of the World Cup and continues to keep him sidelined.
Speaking to France Football about how close Koscielny was to a departure, Courbis drew attention to the importance of the timing of injury.
“When he banged the floor with his hand, I immediately knew that it was serious, that it was over,” he explained.
“Everything at that moment went through my mind, including the worst, which was validated when it emerged that it was an Achilles rupture and that he would miss the World Cup.
“Laurent was perhaps playing the final matches of his Arsenal career.
“He had started thinking about a possible departure from Arsenal at the same time as Arsene Wenger.
“It was the right moment, the final moment to leave with the arrival of the new manager.
“I had already anticipated this, with two or three offers that were starting to make us think.
“We were open to different options, China as much as France. He could not see himself playing for another English team other than Arsenal.
“Since the approach from Marseille least season, the notion of returning to Ligue 1 entered his thinking. It was a genuine possibility.”
Koscielny is very much on the mend and should be back in training by November. Unai Emery has already underlined his faith in the France international’s quality by confirming the Frenchman as the club’s captain.
He’ll no doubt be hoping the defender’s experience will bring a calmness to a defence that has struggled in his absence this season.
Of course, it remains to be seen whether Kos is any better suited to the Spaniard’s ‘play out from the back’ tactics than Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratis…teaching old dogs new tricks is never easy.
Keep him as long as we can, great player.
Great man too
Had a few good seasons, but never what I would call great. His pace often got him out of trouble that a great defender wouldn’t have got into. He was already on his last legs before this injury. Also, was never a great leader or team motivator.
Thierry bergkamp it’s a true travesty we can only downvote your comment only once each
That “great pace” was the only thing keeping our def together.when you play gung-ho like we did,you need that.Even Maldini would’ve struggled with 0 protection from Mid + Fb.
Well, good thing he had that injury. Considering our options at the back, we are still not prepared to let him go.
An injury is almost never a good thing.
Perhaps in this case the cloud has a silver lining
Unless it happens to a cunt like John Terry or Ryan Shawcross
Like when Arnautovic injured himself trying to score against us
I love Kozza, and I’m extremely glad that he is on the mend and not on his way out the door. He is sorely missed the defence is a shambles, simply more of the same, bad news. Granit is a liability and I’m not sure that his long range passing abilities make up for his frequent lapses. I will be delighted to see Kozza back in the team both with his commitment and hard work, and maybe now that he will have had a proper rest he wont have the constant strain of nursing an injury. I hope so, and… Read more »
How much longer are we going to keep up this tradition of having a club captain that dosent actually play?
You know any club where the captain plays while injured ?
Towards the end Arteta was captain and was hardly on the pitch. BFG was also captain and also never around. He also stated he wanted to puke bc of nerves just thinking he might have to play. We need to give the arm band to someone that is vocal, tough and not injury prone.
Fuck it, I nominate young Matteo
As much as I know of Lolo, I think he is better than Mustafi at playing from the back.
Mustafi is actually pretty good playing from the back. Terrible defender though
He will not get a new job until he has proven that he is fit, which will only happen through playing for Arsenal again. Hence, I guess we will see him on our turf again.
Pfft Football agents really are scum. He’s just pissed off his big commission disappeared with Kos’s injury. 3 offers or not, he’s still under contract so it was a mute point.
yo the expression is actually a “moot” point, have a great day
Moo point. Like a cow’s opinion, it doesn’t matter.
Its a very quiet point hence ‘mute’ 😉
haha fair dos
Completely agree. Agent is just pissed. And right now we’re paying Kos wages while he recovers. Everything coming out of the Kos camp mouth should be about appreciation and commitment to this club. I dont like this story one bit. And I hope Kos had nothing to do with it.
Now get well son, and get back out there and play like a real Arsenal captain!
He’s not playing…..just like a real Arsenal captain
This is honestly shocking, I can’t imagine seeing captain Kos play in a different shirt from Arsenal for the rest of his career..
“When he banged the floor with his hand, I immediately knew that it was serious, that it was over…my massive commission from a finely orchestrated move to Shanghai United was kaput. There would be no more holiday home in the Bahamas, no more dreams of flicking v’s at Mino Raiola from my brand spanking new chrome lambo at the annual super-agents’ big do in Monaco. Everything dashed in an instant…plus Laurent looked fairly gutted about the World Cup and that.”
man , i hate agents and their entitlement. they think just because there were offers ,we would have let him go. scum sucking scum bag.
I would have prefered that these things were not aired in public. Why admit that Kos considered to leave. He did not leave, so do we really need this out in the public? Stupid to damage relationship between captain and club.
Why? Because the player is recovering soon. So he starts banging the drum so when the winter transfer season starts he knows other teams are aware. Its not about the player, a team or fans. Its about an agent and his deal. Agents are the lowest of the low.
He will likely be gone in the summer.
He’s too old and fragile now to risk being in the squad.
BUT we have NOT taken the right steps in addressing deficiencies in the squad by buying Sokratis.
This is a band aid.
Vermaelen is no longer our captain?
Arsenal captains seem to sit on the bench a lot
Captaincy means they will leave in the summer.
This will likely be an unpopular opinion but this guy has to be the most overrated player in Arsenal history. I cannot think of another player who has given away so many penalties, got sent off and been involved in some of the most catastrophic balls ups and yet been so lauded.
If you’re going to laundry list the negatives, let’s not conveniently ignore the number of times he’s had the Costas, Agueros, and practically every other striker in the league in his pocket.
It’s far too easy to criticize defenders while ignoring the good.
He was near disaster first season but he got much better thereafter.
Many don’t remember how poor he was first season in not just penalties conceded but also reds and own goals.
Which is why it always amuses me when the lay in on Mustafi…or Granit.
Mustafi and Xhaka are not in their 1st seasons though are they? They have been consistently crap with little or no improvement for several seasons. That is the difference
Especially when he had to play in Wenger’s system. How many over defenders have been so isolated over the years than Arsenal’s? I always thought we were luck to have him, warts and all.
I think there is an important additional point here. It was Wenger’s presence that, in the eyes of young players–especially, but not exclusively in France–made Arsenal one of the big clubs in the world, our reputation and attraction much greater than other clubs with similar recent histories. It is inconceivable that someone like Mbappe would have ever thought about Arsenal as a destination otherwise. So far, as best as I can tell, we have navigated that dangerous transition fairly well, but we should understand there is no longer a built-in reason for a young player to prefer Arsenal to other… Read more »
Wenger still carried a good rep in giving the ‘patience’ to develop players. The flip side is this patience often became over indulgence.
BUT the main problem facing Wenger was he faced a double squeeze from more entrants into the PL who could afford to pay higher wages and transfer fees PLUS the lower end also able to compete for foreign players (thans to TV money redistribution) where they were once unapologetically xenophobic.
Pretty sure Mbappe, Lemar, Bakayoko etc turned Arsene down so how did that reputation help? Young players want to be coached, not thrown in at the deep end and left to flounder.
And why would a good young player not want to join Arsenal? Great club, history, stadium, pays well. There may be more attractive clubs at this time, but not many
Every young player in Europe thought of Arsenal as a big club, like Man United, Bayern, or–some years ago–Milan. In recent years, that was in large part because of Wenger. Players like Mbappe (and Aubameyang) don’t think about Milan that way anymore. Will that also happen to arsenal?
The first place I had to take my picture in the dressing room.
I don’t think he will be with us for long. He’s been a stalwart signed by Wenger and Law. But he’s getting on. Meanwhile we have yet to replace the speed he would have given us. There were some good signs from Mustafi and Koscielny last season even if littered with issues. BUT the two never really got consistent playing time together to fully develop with Koscielny constantly getting niggles and then the big blow with the achilles. Where Mustafi is a good stopper, Koscielny was the sweeper with his pace. I don’t think we have adequately tackled the issues… Read more »
Wholeheartedly agree!
So he is considering leaving a sinking ship but can’t because he gets injured at a vital moment! Surely his commitment has to be questioned?
He’s exceptional on the ball so I don’t see any issues there, it’s how his body holds up and allows him to defend well which is the bigger concern
Gazidis exit plan apparently another BIG issue right now.
Emery and some of the staff growing exasperated by lack of clarity.
Should need resolution sooner than later.
Am I the only one that’s reads this a short ‘we weren’t planning to leave but figured a healthy salary whilst injured was alright’
out of anyone, i feel he’d be the best defender we have whose game could suit Emery’s style… better on the ball than mustafi and sokratis, let alone quicker than the two (post-achilles injury may have an effect on this)