Laurent Koscielny has confirmed that he has taken part in his first full training session with the first team since rupturing his Achilles in May.
The Arsenal medical team, keen to set realistic expectations of his recovery period, had been telling everyone that the Frenchman would not return until November, so he’s a couple of weeks ahead of schedule.
Taking to Instagram, our club captain posted a picture of himself in action, alongside the tagline: “First full training with my teammates ?”
It’ll likely to take the 33-year-old a couple of weeks to get up to speed, but it’s a boost for Unai Emery who currently only has two fit centre-backs – Shkodran Mustafi and Rob Holding – to pick from. It remains to be seen whether Sokratis, who picked up an ankle problem on international duty, will be available for this evening’s clash with Leicester City.
Arsenal have four matches in the space of nine days this month and then a further three games in the first half of November before another Interlull kicks in. Perhaps we’ll see Laurent in action against Blackpool in the Carabao Cup on 31 October.
Welcome back Lolo.
Dreamy
Thank fuck
Great to have him back, but please, please, please be cautious with his return. The achilles rupture is a serious injury and I know from experience it takes a while to be back to full strength plus we have a history of players being out with long term injuries coming back and having a different type of muscular injury by coming back into the squad too quickly. Koscielny himself has a history of a variety of injuries and is also much older than many of our players that have come back from long absences.
I ruptured my Achilles four years ago. It’s amazing to me that he’s back to full training this fast. I agree that he should still be considered to be “recovering” from this injury until he can show that he can play a full 90′. We need to temper our expectations for now.
Yea, real need to be cautious; both legs are coloured differently!
That’s where we subbed him a new leg on.
Luckily we still have quite a few body parts lying around from the previous medical team.
I think he’s a ten games a season player now. Hopefully I’m wrong.
If he’s a 10 games a season player now then I don’t think we would have let Chambers go out on loan.
Astounding that he’s returned this fast. Wonderful for him and for the team. I just hope he can regain his former form.
Brilliant news! When he’s fully fit, Lolo is our best defender. Hopefully he can get a few minutes in the Cow Cup match at the end of the month and work his way back into action.
Welcome back skip
Well, there’s his problem. He’s practising in Dress Shoes……