Laurent Koscielny says he’ll likely leave Arsenal when his current deal expires in June 2020.
The France international will have completed a decade at the Emirates by that point and thinks at 34-years-old it’ll probably be time for a change of scenery.
In the short-term, the centre-back’s main focus is on recovering from the horrific Achilles injury that is set to sideline him for the rest of the year.
“I’m under contract until June 2020. Afterwards? I’m thinking of moving on, but I do not know where,” he told Nice-Matin.
“This is not relevant anyway! I am in England, my family too. Then there will inevitably be a lot of question marks.
“The bottom line is to have health. I learned to relativise because there are so many more serious things in life.”
Unai Emery has confirmed that Koscielny will be one of his club captains this season; no doubt a timely boost for a player who had to watch from the stands as his international teammates secured World Cup glory this summer.
I can’t see him being here past next summer to be honest
I can still see the captain here mentoring the youngsters same as Per was last season.
Probably not. Per is already functioning in that capacity.
Written off too soon by a lot of people in my opinion. Hopefully this time out will help him to get fully fit again and if so, I’m sure he still has a lot to offer.
He is still better than all the defenders we have. None has his quality. He will come back directly into our starting XI.
I love how far he has come. One of Wengers brilliant left-field signings and almost immediately criticised for his decision-making and lightweight build. Now he is widely considered one of the best CBs in Europe.
Loved watching his development along the way and gives me hope that one of Mustafi, Holding etc can follow a similar trajectory.
Nobody doubts his ability. The problem is will he be the same after such a serious injury? Will he be able to regain his athleticism and pace? It’s really difficult with an Achilles rupture. Fingers crossed for him, though.
hopefully we will have some decent centre backs by then
10 years and one of the greats for me.
It’s a pity that, apart from a brief spell with Per, we couldn’t find him a stable and worthwhile partner.
“one of the greats”
What low expectations you have.
He used to mark world’s top strikers out of the game, so…
Well, Didier Deschamps made it clear that he would almost certainly have been his first choice centre half in the World Cup. So, at least in the eyes of its coach, the team that ended up as champion of the world would have been stronger with Koscielny.
At some point Kos was definitely world class CB.
But I have to agree, many Arsenal fans have developed very low standards in recent times.
I’m absolutely gutted and feel for Koscielny – he should have been able to say I’m a World cup winner but instead some bloke named Adil Rami has that around his neck for the rest of his life….
When he does leave, he deserves the respect fit for the truly consummate pro he is . Kos the Boss !
Thats where self belief comes in
Maybe, but I remember Adams’ debut and Keown’s signing – I’d slot him between the two.
Strong and stable. Get Teresa May in, that’s her favourite saying.
Brief? Per played for us for 7 seasons.
They were the main men at the back for several of those seasons.
I think that this would be fair enough
From the end of the 12/13 season onwards he has been an absolute rock for us! Really hope he recovers quickly and gets back to his best, our defence is better with him in it. I don’t think anyone could begrudge him a move at 34, having been at the club a decade.
I love Kos, he’s one of the few things Wenger got right in the past decade. But let’s be serious here, he has been on the way down for the past couple of years. Great guy, and fantastic player in his prime but we need better at CB to be challenging for the big prizes. And no, Mustafi and Papa are not the answers for me either.
One of the few things Wenger got right. Cazorla, Ozil, Alexis, Aubameyang, and three FA Cups. Without including players like Monreal and Giroud.
Is it not time to give this a rest? Your comment would have had exactly the same meaning without the completely irrelevant slap against Wenger.
Fairly certain Aubamayang wasn’t a Wenger pick
Ozil, Alexis, Cazorl and Auba were already renowned players with established quality.
Pretty sure he meant in terms of getting a low-key player and transforming him into into a star.
Completely unnecessary knives in the back to Koscielny. My god some of the folks around here really make it hard to be a proud supporter of this club.
My support will never waver but there is quite a lot of pettiness I really want nothing to do with.
Its not a knife into the back of koscielny ffs. He’s no longer imo a top class defender, mainly because he’s into his 30’s and basically only has one working foot. Presumably we all want Arsenal to at least finish in the top 4, Kos wouldn’t get into any of the other rivals for top 4 any more, so thats my criteria. I don’t want him taken out and shot, I just think we need our defence upgraded. I.can’t believe anyone who watches us play would think any different.
Ok, I’ll rephrase it just for you: the signing and subsequent development of koscielny is one of the better parts of what has been a very disappointing past decade of Arsenal’s history.
Is that ok?
You’ll be glad not to have been an Arsenal fan in the 80s then.
Cazorla is the best player in post highbury era closely followed by Rosicky(for me) and Ozil.
Koscielny, Ramsey, Giroud, Areteta, Podolski, Arshavin and BFG all come in the next list but it was Cazorla who made everybody look good on the pitch.
Everybody’s game except Ozil’s went down a notch when Cazorla was out injured.
…and what about Fabregas and probably the best in van Persie
What about Cesc?
Was Podolski really a better player for us than Alexis Sanchez, van Persie, or Cesc?
Maybe not in terms of actual footballing ability but don’t you guys see what ramgooner did here? Cesc, RVP and Sanchez were Gunners at one point but they ARE NOT ANYMORE. Ergo. 🙂
What about Gervinho?
Definitely the best (for)head post Highbury. 😉
Love ’em or hate ’em, Fabri was the Best post-highbury player, and the “fit” RVP was a close second.
Then comes Cazorla.
Sensible decision.
I hope he can regain a good level of fitness for the rest of his time here. If he does I can see him playing in Serie A, as it seems to suit older centre backs.
If he doesn’t it could well mean retirement.
Whatever happens he goes down as a legend to me and I wish him well.
It’s kind of refreshing to see this level of honesty from a footballer, without them coming across as a twat.
I’m hoping that Torreira’s introduction will contribute to a tighter defensive performance. Mustafi and Kolasinac have much to do to persuade me that they should start in any PL team.
Guendouzi is much better than I’d expected (I know, early days, friendlies etc) and his competition may spark an extra edge in Xhaka’s game (Guendouzi can actually tackle and win the ball which is already +100% over the Swiss).
Why Mustafi?
Holding hasn’t been any better. Made far more mistakes pre-season.
Fighting words. Depends on fitness. He must have seen what we’ve brought in in Sokratis and feels he has a chance to keep going. Truthfully, Koscielny was also at fault for a number of mistakes last season which if it were Mustafi many would have highlighted. BUT his speed (waning of course) dovetailed well with the German’s intercepts and blocks, it was the classic stopper-sweeper set up. In some part their job was not made easy by a midfield that neglected to track runners into the box and a general lack of awareness/Leadership to call out dangers behind the Cback… Read more »