Koscielny: "I've met with Wenger & don't want to miss this opportunity"
|Laurent Koscielny has lifted the lid on why he is so desperate to join Arsenal and how the move came about.
The 24-year-old has been hugely impressive for the French side, leading them to a seventh placed finish, after moving from Tours for £1.2 million last summer.
However, the Ligue 1 side are obviously reluctant to part with their star defender, who has made 35 league appearances this season.
“Arsenal is one of the biggest European clubs, who plays in the Champions League. I think it’s a good club to progress further. I do not want to miss this opportunity,” Koscielny told La Montagne.
“They have contacted my representitives this week. I met with Arsene Wenger, as did my agents after the end of last season. It went well.”
Gunners boss Wenger is currently in the market for another centre back as he faces a defensive exodus with Philippe Senderos already departed and William Gallas, Sol Campbell all expected to leave soon.
Koscielny’s France-based agent Stephane Canard is set for showdown talks with Lorient president Loic Fery in the coming days, with several Lorient forums suggesting that the move will be official fairly soon.
Chris your the man , yer again … Great post
great news chris!!! keep up the great work!! any other news about transfers?
so we’re releasing 4 centre backs and it looks like we’re only bringing in 1, no wonder cesc wasn’t impressed by the transfer policy
I’m still hoping that Sol will stay for another season, but above all I hope that Silvestre gets the hell out. I fear that he will get a new deal though, it would be a typical Wenger move. But if all three go we need at least two new CBs. Hell, even if Silvestre stays we need two new CBs.
Also I hear that Frey is available for around £6m. Buy buy buy!
Who is the next after him? 😀 Jagielka?
Djourou is OK, and if Gallas, Silvestre and Campbell all leave, then Nordtveit will be promoted to the 1st team squad.
We are defo gonna need 2 CB’s for sure
now.. Wenger said he likes to have 4.. Vermaelen, djourou.. This guy and 1 more. Since Campbell is most likely going to Celtic
The Left Hand – We are letting 4 go, however we never used 1 and do have a player back from injury. So rather than 4 out one in its 3 out 2 in. Which is much better. I would like 2 in if I’m honest.
out
Senderos – not used
Silvestre – Good riddance
Gallas – Shame he wants to go
Sol – We deserve more from him really.
In
Djourou – Not available last year
New CB – Much needed
Does anyone else read the quote as if he see’s us a stepping stone. The great opportunity to progress further sounds a bit like he has a longer term plan than settling with us. I might be being sceptical however, using the last 5 years I have good reason.
He could be the guy that Arsene talked about. A signing during the world cup and a defensive 1. 1 more center back please??!! Then another keeper and a midfielder then we are ready to go. Bring on Anfield!
Agree Song is King.
WE NEED A KEEPER!
@ The Left Hand Of HENRY: dont talk sh…!! This guy is not the only ones who will come in!!!
Is anyone else underwhelmed by the potential signing of this guy? Arsene always talks of top quality but this guy has never ventured near the level of competition that he would be playing in at Arsenal. I know Vermaelen had a similar career trajectory but he was playing for Ajax and had played Champions League football. I can’t help but feel there are better alternatives than breaking the bank for a guy who cost 1.5m last year.
what are we doing having managers meet players to discuss transfers and then constantly taking the moral high ground when other teams do it to us?
Well, let us leave Arsene Wenger alone, because he knows more than anybody and he is the only person that knows what the team (Arsenal) needs for now, therefore nobody should criticise him on whatever he does or who ever he buys. I think Laurent Koscielny has shown great interest in joining Arsenal team, hence I believe that he will surely perform well. I wish him best of luck.
So arsene tapped him up… And we moan about barca and cesc when we are meeting players without agreeing a price…tut tut
Even if Wenger does sign him, does anyone else feel like I do that we will still need another centre half if Sol and Gallas leave? Sylvester will also go so that would only leave us Vermaelen and Jourou! 1 other centre half is not enough cover if you ask me especially considering our history of injury owes!
Great news!!! i really think he can do a “vermalean” next season but he will have to put on a good impression in his first dew matches … we obviously need another defensive signing so that we have 4 centerbacks and song being the fifth. ohh and .. any news on Joe Cole??? i really hope he signs becuase hes a big talent!!
how do you reckon wenger tapped him up? We made a couple of offers which they declined asking for more. The player said he has asked the club to sell him so he would have been given permission to talk with wenger about a possible move while the clubs trash out a price – thats how these things are done no??
@Tommygun: Has Wenger at any point said that he wanted to buy this player, and if he did, we pay twice the asking price. No one would complaine if Cesc leaves for 60 mill.
i still dont get why arsene is trying to sign this guy…here is a guy that is left footed and plays at the left side of the central defence where vermaelen plays…his he buying him as a cover for vermelen just to come and seat on the bench for that amount? or a replacement for clichy? i think who we need at the cb is someone right footed, tall and with premiership experience….i dont see koscielny as a like for like replacement for gallas….is not logical playin two left footed player at the cb…kosielny and vermalen cant partner at the central defence for us….if he is gonna be cover and a squad player then am ok with that but not in the our starting eleven unless one of vermaelen or clichy leaves…so going by this, we still need another cb if campbell leaves as well….
@damstar: Are you he is left footed.looked like a right footer to me in the pictures, by the angle he is running at
@ Gooner: Cole will be unveiled after WC as a gunner!!!! Hope the rumours are true and he agreed already to join us!!
@ damster he can use both feets it is said!!! He will play as a CB besides Vermaealen.
Hope we get him he seems a TV like player
@mohamed, he plays at the left side of the central defence at fc lorient….
@arsenal4ever, where is that said? the guy is left footed….
why is eveyone moaning about using 2 left footed cb’s? so many clubs use two right footed cb’s, and i’m sure we have done it before so surely its the same?
kJAER IS BETTER THAN KOSCIELNY
@ damster:
http://transfermarkt.de/en/laurent-koscielny/profil/spieler_76277.html
@ andre: not sure if he is better but Kjaer would be a great addition, too. I am sure we will see 2 new CB`s not only this guy!!!
jagielka and cahill are what we want… We are competing at the highest level and these two aren’t bankrupt the club stuff, like at real madrid… I hav never heard ANY ONE say i hope we sign koscienly he will just do o
i kinda guess we need more solid players at the back and in the center of the park and not more flair players…. we lost the premiership last season because of the ability of other teams to “bully”
anyone else up for a protest outside the armoury if we sign a load of potential players and get another man united home kit with our badge on it for a home kit
ARSENAL4EVER , WHO IS BETTER , SUBOTIC OR KJAER ?
@andre: Kjaer definitely has the potential to be one of the best, and would be my pick all day long. But by no means is Subotic a lesser centre half, i just feel that he is playing close to his full potential. Subotic is also a lot pricier than Kjaer…
Subotic’s agent recently said:
Steve Kelly told Sport.co.uk: “There is no foundation in any of the rumours regarding Neven. Neither myself, Neven or his club have been in contact with the clubs in question. In my opinion, I think he will be a Borussia Dortmund player next year. He is happy, and there are some good players at the club, so he has to work to get into the team.
“Dortmund have proved how much they value him with the price tags that have been mentioned. I would be very surprised if he wasn’t playing his football at Dortmund next year.”
@arsenal4ever…nice one thanks for that…but wat am sure about is that he always play at the left side in lorient….but that aside……now is a questionmark over how physically he will adapt to the premier league,cos physically the lad looks a lil bit lightweight to me…but am not gonna doubt his mental toughness though as he looks really mean and a no nonsense defender..thats a plus….but will he be able to deal with the likes of drogba and those stokes city players? we shall see…in arsene we trust…he knows more than we fans know…
@ damster. Vermaelen also played at ajax on the left side so this doesnt mean anything at all!!
@ andre: I rate both but never seen Kjaer playing at all only at WC and he was decent.
you are all forgeting Bartley who is a quality big man on the right hand side and will be brought on by Sol who is going nowhere.
celtic are notts county with support..
so verminator, this new guy, djorou, bartley, and sol. one more will do, jagielka would be nice.
@ andre & arsenal4ever, i wont like any of subotic or kjaer at arsenal…both are still young..djourou is better than both of them when he is back to his best…the last thing we need now at the emirate now is another young and unproven player….both are not wengers type of signings…they got too much hype on them….yea vermaelen plays at left side in ajax and he is playing at the same position in arsenal nothing change for him…
HOW ABOUT RUMOUR OF SIGNING AFELLAY ?
@ andre…lol forget that..i believe those are just paper talks…squashed that rumor…we dont even need him at arsenal….we already got players who can play in his position…..who i will like for us to sign is eden hazard or this guy from psv balasz dzudszak…
HOW ABOUT GOURCUFF, JOE COLE OR OZIL ?
i believe joe cole is coming in as a replacement for either eduardo or rosicky…..we may get gourcuff or ozil or arteta IF fabregas leaves for barca…
lets sing enyeama(nigerian no.1). his saves are better than almunia and fabianski`s 😉
@ DAMSTAR , YOU CHOOSE GOURCUFF OR OZIL IF FABREGAS LEAVE ?
thats wat the media are speculating not me….as for me if fabregas leaves, i will prefer we get either gerard(uncretain) or arteta(certain if we offer big money)….those two are expericence and play a similar role as fabregas….also any of them wont hinder the development of wilshere or ramsey cos i see them as our future and better fabbregas….but if i will choose a similar like for like player that will come straight into our squad and deliver wat cesc can offer, i will definitely go for steven gerard or mikel arteta…
vermaelen, koscielny, djourou, campbell (or new player), and nordveit.
so we need at least one more additional cb, a gk, and cover for dm and we’re set…
arteta is good but too injury prone. are you seriously thinking of adding another treatment-table player to our squad? i don’t mind anyone take cesc’s role if he really go which i’m not hoping for as long as it’s not denilson! denilson has been given too much chances to prove himself but yet, he kept disappointing us. i would love to see an english player as a replacement of cesc. i hate some foreign players who take Arsenal as the stepping stone and go to spain when they think they are good enough. i’m sick of that kind of players. i don’t want another hleb, flamini, adebayor nor cesc type of player. i want a complete committed player to Arsenal Football Club.
@ chg….or we can use one stone to kill two birds, buy one more additional cb who can also play in dm(like vertonghen from ajax) then a gk….
@ song is king…arteta is not injury prone mehn….so whenever a player got a serious injury that keeps him out for a long time so he is now injury prone right? see wat he did for everton wen he came back from his injury towards the end of the season…..and also we just need someone for a short period of time until wilshere and ramsey are ready….
full interview
http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=zh-TW&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lamontagne.fr%2Fsports%2Ffootball%2Farsenalne_se_refuse_pas@CARGNjFdJSsGEhwNAh4-.html&sl=auto&tl=en
we shud get ozil and gourcuff from the fabs money if he leaves , we shud sign cahill and/or jagielka if everton let him leave
Isn’t Wenger a liar? He said he’s gonna make a signing before the World Cup when he knew Chamakh will come, and now he says he’ll make a defensive signing before the end of the world cup when he knows Koscielny will come, thus LYING that we’re not close to anyone.
Guys, I’m pretty sure we won’t see anymore signings, except these two average players, and now I hope Fabregas leaves, because he deserves to be spared of the frustration within and surrounding this money-making club.
so we’ve signed two average players and letting an amazing one go, great….we need to buy a good experienced goal keeper 25-30yrs old and we need to replace cesc preferably with gourcuff hes very talented and physically better than cesc
hang on a minute… He’s met with Wenger before a bid has been accepted….?
Vermaelen is very average, just like this guy will be:)
A signing takes two parties agreeing. Wenger can say what he wants to do, make signings before the world cup, but if the other party wants more money, then the signing can’t happen until they agree. That doesn’t make him a liar.
Don’t be so cynical.
Obviously, people hear what they want to hear. Arsene is not a liar, neither did he promise signings on Thursday 29th April 2010 he said
“I will try to do what I want to do as quickly as possible but I am not the only decider. It doesn’t only depend on me.
“Ideally, you would want to do the job before the World Cup. It is difficult to give yourself the right timing.
“Certainly, we will announce one player before the World Cup. After that we will see.”
He has been true to his word. Check Arsenal.com for confirmation.
Hang on a min if this true ain’t this tappin up?
Not that I care like we need him BIG time
Well based on the WC, and tonights game, we should be proud of cero players in the england squad and hope no english players will be bought;)
Did anyone just watch that England game ? I got up at 3am in Adelaide to watch that crap…… They oh do they need Theo!!!!
May be Algerian players are better buy,judging by their game against England tonight.
Assuming this will be or second signing, we would have spent less in terms of transfer fees (I know Chamakh’s wages needs to be considered) than last season thus far.
Arsene Wenger clearly stated that he has more money this season than in previous years.
Lets just wait and see before we make judgements.(Easier said than done of course)
@arsenal4ever: Hopefully it is TRUE 😀
did any1 hear wayne rooneys comments when he left the field. with a performance like the one he just put it who the fcuk does he think he is.
Keep the ball and you will create chances. Chase it and you will lose it again and again.
http://www.footylatest.com/man-utd-and-arsenal-trailing-25-million-serbian-ace/14933
couldnt find something about it at skysports but if this is true we are ahead of manure!!!
I am sure if a deal will be done rosicky is in it!! He played for them long years. So Joe Cole is already the replacement for him. Hope Cole isnt to injury prone!!
u guys need to come up with some better names for cesc replacement; gerard is old and overrated and will never go to Arsenal, arteta is not that good and getting old, I would take ozil out of ur choices cause he’s technically good but he’s not that fast. Cole would be nice but he’s injury prone and small. Gourcuff is slow and overrated. The perfect cesc replacement would be a carbon copy of Diaby, without the mental issues and injury problems. Someone physical, young, skillfull, has Xavi vision and can shoot. The only realistic prospects I could come up for that are – Milos Krasic, Ribery (not really realistic), jonathon dos santos, shweinsteiger…..but none are perfect, I’d really love if Nasri or Arsh (or even Diaby) would just step up and fill that position so we can invest in some world class talent
we don’t want another unknown average defender
I think it will be very nice of Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger if he could sign this young talented star as of the fact that we are desperately in need of this centre back defender.
All members of the “Arsene Out” brigade need to get their heads out of their arses.
Sure, by his standards we have underperformed for a few years now… but who the hell do they think we are that we can afford to let a manager of Arsene’s class go??? Just who do they think we’ll get to replace him? Ferguson? Mourinho? Guardiola? Get a grip!
I defy anybody to name a single manager on Arsene’s level that we’d have a cat-in-hell’s-chance of signing.
@Boy Better Know: Like Vermaelen you mean?
This is good talk. please hurry up the move. arsenal welcomes you.
man this lad is unproven. there’s no guarantee he will as good as verm. i really dont think that any1 from foreign soil will adapt that quickly apart from verm.
ps england is a bunch of losers n they will NOT progress from the group stage.
Its obvious to me what is happening, Nasri will replace Cesc in the middle, Cole will be brought in to give as more strength on the left and this Lorient defender will be our new defender with maybe another centr half bought for cover, with Chamakh as our new forward, then a new goalkeeper dont expect anymore signings even with the Cesc cash. In reality we needed a strong forward, goalkeeper, defender, a proper holding midfielder, a left sided midfielder and if possible a player that can create chances, eg Hleb or Bergkamp type player, but is that really going to happen.
Vermaelen was unknown for those of you who only watch Premier League. I know many people who said he will be a great signing for Arsenal, and his qualities aren’t born at Arsenal. I don’t rate him as world-class, because of his height (he cannot cope with big strikers) and he’s pretty much error prone like we saw in about 6,7 goals he let in this season.
Koscielny on the other hand didn’t have 3 results in google, so he’s largely unknown, and frankly I think Wenger went for him because he’s a cheapskate. period
me=idiot, wenger has some of the top scouting networks of any top club, u really think he’s gonna buy a shitty player to save money? this is a potential starter, so to say that he’s trash makes you sound ignorant, I personally don’t watch enough french league to know but I respect arsene enough to give the guy a chance and not make retarded comments cause I can admit that I don’t know and u obviously don’t know shit, so lets think before we start sounding like a stupid spurs fan and embaress yourselves
ilya, Koscielny is shite, but unfortunately, you’ll have to see it for yourself.
He may be but I honestly doubt it, do u know for a fact or are u just saying that cause u haven’t heard of him? I’m curious cause I haven’t heard any first hand ratings for him, If ur informed then lets hear some details I’d like to know who we’re signing