Arsenal close in on Koscielny deal after defender misses training
|Laurent Koscielny did not train with his Lorient side this morning as the 24-year-old’s move to Arsenal becomes ever-closer.
Earlier today Les Merlus’ official website reported that Koscielny was discussing the ‘terms of his departure’ with nothing to be ‘finalised’ until Thursday.
French daily Le Telegramme also say that Lorient are close to signing a straight replacement for Koscielny in highly-rated Ligue 2 defender Bruno Ecuele-Manga.
‘Kos’ is expected to arrive in London during the coming days.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger admitted his interest in Koscielny earlier this month as he aims to firm up a defensive unit that looks set to be broken up over the summer.
32-year-old William Gallas is set to leave the Emirates on a Bosman to join Juventus, while Mikael Silvestre is likely to be released. Veteran defender Sol Campbell, who returned to the club in January and only narrowly missed out on a sensational England call up, has yet to decide between a one-year-deal at Arsenal, or a two-year-deal at Celtic.
Let us know your views on the defensive situation and Koscielny’s imminent move in the comments section below.
Doesn’t excite, does it.
Would prefer Micah Richards.
And the Schwarzer signing makes us look like Bolton.
World Class players? Hardly
One year ago…”Whos thomas vermaelen, doesnt look world class at all!”
One year later…”thomas vermaelen looks world class!”
“Koscielny doesnt look world class at al!” …just maybe, you never know with Wenger signings.
micah richards is useless. I agree though on Schwarzer though please God don’t let us sign him. I would rather have Manuel “butter hands” Almunia
swarzer would be a better bet than almunia. i think all confidence is lost in him now by his defenders and wenger. swarzer is just a stop gap till fabi or snez mature
wenger should buy gary cahill or simon kjaer.
i would like to see a lucio or walter samuel type defender, big and strong.. i hope this guy is
Why do people say such dumb things as “Would prefer Micah Richards” ? The guy has no football sense at all. He is rubbish. I would rather take a chance on the unknown Koscielny than buy somebody we all know is crap!
lets give our view on him at the end of the season! Adams slated Vermaelen before kicking a ball at arsenal and what happened at the end of the season? he was in the pfa team of the year!
Regarding schwarzer, maybe competition with Almunia will push them to become more consistent!
We’ll see, I hope Nordtveit will get his chance this summer 🙂
Welcome Cygan mark 2,what a rubbsih signing,no ambition,no hope.
Schwarzer doesn’t set me alight-random shout but how about Speroni from Crystal Palace? Before you shout me down here’s why he’d be good:
Arsenal struggle with arial bombardment, set pieces, crosses and scrappy bundled goals. That’s what Speroni is a specialist at!
Danish Gooner
eaazy mate!! trust me theres only one Cygan!!!
verma has shut adams up.. lets hope this lad is another verma..
u’ll never know..
vermalen+ JD + Nordtveit + this french guy and sol if he stays; should be enough.
lets get thh goaliiieeee!!
He does not have to excite people. He does not have to be a big name that all the FM fans have heard of, he needs to be able to come in and perform well for Arsenal, adjust quickly and help improve our defensive record.
Simple as.
Just because he does not cost £25 million, and is not staring in Nike adverts doesn’t mean that he is not a good player.
I do not know anything about him so cannot comment until he has adapted to English football and Arsenal football. Only then can I or anyone else make a comment about how good or bad a signing he is.
I think Koscielny is a solid player, his a bit like Vermalen. If he adapts like he did we should be fine.
We need to keep cesc and sign a gollllie for real. Our team crys out for wingers to so why not.
This guy had the 3rd most succesful tackle rate in french football league history. Seriously, anyone that doubts Wenger should jog on.
Sounds good, lets hope he turns out to be a star.
And for those who are saying Micah Richards, are you having a laugh? He is positionally woeful and a miastke waiting to happen. If he was any good Chelski would have probably snapped him up by now. I also think a few years ago, Mark Schwarzer might have been a good signing, but at 37, his best years are far behind him. Vincent Enyeama seems like the right way to go in my opinion. We were akready very close to signing him before, although we were stingy bastards with the money. He seems solid, and despite the african cup of nations, i think he’d be a great signing.
so wenger is buying unknown centre halves, a mid table goalie and a stricker on a free… We were promised this stadium would let us compete with the big clubs for the big players that have winning experience, instead it has turned us into a bargain basement club that gets away with being cheap coz we play excellent football
Richards does not have a good football brain. Don’t know anything about Koscielny but agree with JBO
great news!!! saw him playing and he looks really class with a brillant eye and tackling. not to forget his goal scoring instinct. could help in tight situations.
but thats most interesting:
http://pallone.myblog.it/archive/2010/06/28/inter-arsenal-a-caccia-di-balotelli.html
it says we did bid for balotelli and kjaer.
hope not just paper talk as it comes out of italy!!!
Why is everyone getting on Schwarzers back. He has been one of the most consistent keepers in the prem over the last few years and is a commanding presence, a gk that would inspire confidence from a back 4 who currently have no faith in any of the top 3 keepers at the club.
2-3 seasons of Schwarzer while Sczcesney matures is more than ok with me!
Cant say Im too sure about Koscielny. For a player no ones heard of, has only played in Ligue 1 since last year, for a team not exactly at the top of the table Wenger has really gone after him and is willing to pay way over the top, he must be some player. I for one am willing to give the lad a go, you never know he could be a Wenger Special like Thomas Vermaelen. Lets face it his players he signs that no ones heard of are alot better than the ones you have (Schwarzer).
As for Schwarzer what is he thinking, he’s just buying Almunia again but 5yr older, what is the point and what a waste of £3.5m
I’m glad this ‘TR’ guy isn’t our manager.
Wouldn’t actually mind Speroni, Palace are poor, so may work out. £3.5m on Swharzer is a bit much.
Basically anyone who doesnt get lobbed as often as Almunia. With this dude’s record, you would think he is 2 foot tall!
When we sign the likes of Maicon, Messi, Schneider, Lucio, Ozil or Casillas I’ll get excited. Buying nobodies from the likes of Lorient and Bordeaux is as exciting as peeling potatoes with grandad.
Big name signings are just not Wenger’s style. If you’ve been gooner long enough, you’d know. The closest we’ve been to signing ‘big’ in recent times would be when we signed GallaS or Arshavin. The saying goes, ‘Wenger knows.’. If Wenger signs who he signs, have a little faith. I mean, look what he has done for the club. Slashed the debt by a margin, nurtured onE of the world’s best scouting network. Let him surprise us. He sees things we’ll probably never see. And that’s the same reason why he’s the coach and we’re not.
We will buy him, make him even better then sell him to barca as all our other class players
“anyone that doubts Wenger should jog on”
Yeah cause Wenger has never signed any turkeys like…..Igor Stepanovs for example!!!!! FFS, Vermaelen was an established Belgian international playing at a very good European team when we signed him. Koscielny is not an international at the age of 24, and plays for a team who were second division until last season. Doesn’t exactly fill me with hope!! We need established quality not maybe’s, we’ve had 5 years of maybe’s and look where it’s got us.
I remember this time last year with the shouts of who is Vermaelen now look at him. Wenger has that uncanny knack of seeking out average players and polishing them into stars. We are Arsenal football club after all not some basement club,the boss knows what to look for. Superstar signings dont always make a strong succesful team, it at times causes distruption in a squad of players, over wages etc, you only have to look at Real Madrid. I believe in Wenger and the club is still going in the right direction. Other clubs I.E Man -utd and Chelsea and Liverpool are suffering badly in the current financial climate, they wont be signing big players. Chris Smalling at Man-utd and some Mexican, Chelsea will be relying on fringe players such as Dean Sturridge as they cant even afford to keep Joe Cole now, and the Russian sugar daddy hasnt got the readily available cash any more. Liverpool well the less said the better. So all in all i really do think our club is in a good financial position with good times ahead.
I do not mind signing Koscieleny (whatever his name) I watched him couple of times (although once he was sent off) he looks good, not great to be truthful but so was TV and he was a left back for god’s sake!!!! so trust Wenger in his signings cause every time (ALMOST every time) he makes us all eat our words and look like fools. However, wenger said that defensively we were weak last year and needed improvement but I do not think letting gallas, silvester and cambell go while adding an unproven quality in Koscielny will improve anything really. We now only have:
1-TV
2-JD
3- KOS
that’s like having 2 and half defenders so we need another DEFENDER and a GOALKEEPER in order to really win anything next season
w@ de professor sees whiles sitting de students cannot see whiles standing as simple as dat
jezzzz give the lad a break. a fresh new player who is solid at the back, we could lose 3 defenders and bringing in another verma type defender like this lad is a good move. as for The big cheeses statement your man chamakh from bordeaux is a great player great eye for goal and schwazer has been one of the top goalies in the epl in years just coz hes old dosent mean he still hasnt got it. all we need now is a midfielder and defensive midfielder, gourcuff and de jong with another defender and possible winger in the mould of joe cole and kjear. lets get behind these lads and new addition they havent kicked a ball yet and yous are going mad
If am not mistaken, if we are to keep to the new 25 man rule, we can only add 2 players to the current amount of players we have left ( we have 23 players leftexcluding those that contract are up and on loan and eduardo) so i assume we only getting 1 diffender and the old gold keeper from fulham. we are gonna have to off load more players to sign any others….
Ok. .close this deal and then we must at least another one defender with EPL experience!also we NEED hart or lloris but this summer we can’t buy them. .buy schwarzer for 2 years and then look for someone else or make szcensy #1!also buy felipe melo or de jong(will leave city) or sissoko for a defensive midfielder role and of course if anyone leave buy repleacment! fabregas(gourcuff,ozil,joe cole) eduardo(remy,eriksen,balotelli) some defenders: gary cahill,kjaer,richards,subotic. . COME ON WENGER DO THE JOB!WE ALL LOVE ARSENAL AND WE WANT TO SEE THIS TO THE TOP
@TR: To the idiots that don’t rate Schwarzer: Have you ever watched football? He is in the top 5 keepers in the world.
The reason we need the bigger name players is that they are senior pros who have won things, can shoulder the pressures of expectation and are a big presence on the pitch. These things rub off on the younger players.
Come on people, Wenger, Pat Rice and Boro Primorac can’t teach them everything, they need to learn from top players. Cesc had Vieira, Henry, Pires, Freddie etc. It stops them believing their own hype. Plus it scares the shit out of the opposition.
Agree with you, Lady Arsenal! Sometimes it pays hugh if appropriate investment is made on a few top players. They can ‘rub’ on their skills, helping in building and encouraging the younger players’ footballing knowledge as well. Unfortunately A.Wenger’s policy of buying players are limited most of the time to 8-12m range! Rarely does he exceed his budget for a player more than 15m, leave alone for around 20m or more!
I have followed Fulham after going to the Cottage with my daughter whan we visited London two years ago. She is now a die hard for Fulham as I am for AFC, but I watch Fulham as my 2nd fav every week. Scwartser is a really good keeper Commands well, deals with areials really well. distributes and is respected by Hodsgon and the club. He is a good bridge to Solzency
Arsenal 2010/2011 should be:
Hart
Ven der Wiel – Koscielny – Vermaelen – Gibbs
Arshavin – Cesc – Song – Nasri
RVP – Chamakh
Out /(In):
Almunia / (Joe Hart)
Gallas / (Koscielny)
Sagna / (Gregory Van Der Wiel)
Clichy/ (Gibbs, promoted)
Silvestre / (Gary Cahill AND Simon Kjer)
Sol / (Majid Bougherra)
Denilson / (Wilshere, promoted)
Eduardo / (JET, promoted)
Rosicky / (Henri Lansbury, promoted or Mezut Ozil new arrival)
If Cesc goes, replacement is – Mezut Ozil / Thomas Muller / Wesley Sneijer / Rafael Van der Vaart or simply put Jack Wilshere back from Bolton. Jack Wilshere = Cesc replacement? If Wilshere promoted then snap up another youngster Jack Rodwell (Everton) and Arsenal midfield duo is what Xavi-Iniesta did in Barcelona.
Arsenal 2011/2012 team ought to be:
Hart
Van der Wiel – Cahill – Kos – Gibbs
Ozil – Wilshere- Rodwell – Lansbury
JET – Bendtner
Last by not least,
ENGLAND WORLD CUP FAILURE IS DUE TO SPUDS!
SPUDS = BAD LUCK ENGLAND!
CRAPELLO, PICK WALCOTT, WILSHERE FOR EURO 2012!
ANY SPUDS INSIDE ENGLAND TEAM IS A FUCKING BAD LUCK, RIGHT GAZZA HUH!
@LeProf, that was pretty idiotic lol
big players dont always help just ask real madrid fans,
oh and in the last five years we have been paying for the stadium i now watch the arsenal in , and i must say the emirates is a piece of silverware to me .
wenger knows more than you about football .
Le Prof,
If only it was as easy as that.
Give the guy a chance and see how he plays. I have high hopes for Djourou who is the man everyone seems to forget. He had a decent season in 08/09 and was ready to start playing regularly. Unfortunate injury at the wrong time for him. To be honest I’d say he’s probably going to start the season as first choice.
As for other players – Ozil is way way way out of our price league now – I’d been saying for a while we should have signed him but maybe was too much of a gamble as he would have cost a pretty penny before the WC – now he is going to be in 40-50m bracket.
Wilshere is nowhere near ready to play week in week out – Im a bit worried about his attitude as well – seems a bit David Bentley.
Van der Wiel is a good player but Sagna and Eboue give us two good and different options at RB depending on needs.
when arsene bids 3 times for a player it shows he can be another verminator
another average signing……and people stop abusing the words “world class”. Thomas Vermuelen is not world class. Roooney,Jt, Gerrard, Lamapard are not world class.
The formula of seeking unknown players and transforming them does not work anymore….it has not worked for 5 seasons. For the simple reason that our rivals buy well known stars and we cant compete with them…Its gonna be another painfull season of drubbings by Chelsea and MANu ……..and the Spuds, Man City and Villa are likely to put put 1 or 2 over us…
Lets sign one or two big players. Coz why should players like Fabregas stay when they are being surrounded with average players????? If only David Dein could come back to the club. Top players used to want to come to Arsenal to play with Henry, Bergkamp , Viera, Pires etc etc etc…….now we have becoem a joke and most top players cringe at the prospect of joining Arsenal coz we are not winning and we cant offer competitive wages.
I WILL LOVE TO SEE WENGER BRING IN MEZUT OZIL AND JOE HART, THAT WILL BE BETTER…
of topic… but seriously, Eboue is da sickest player around. cant believe he did this at the world cup…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_pkYxX7VQc&feature=popular
And in 2011-2012 season we would be relegated. You just let our best players for overhyped English players
Just heard that Spurs have made an offer for Kjaer. I will be gutted if they get him.
We need a world class signing. I think Melo would be good for us
@ ehsan, do u hate the thought of buying english players just because they aren’t foreign… Im sure being a centre half from bolton (cahill) would benefit us more than buying one from lorient (koscienly)
Dear Wenger, please sign a world class INTERNATIONAL keeper aged aprox 30-32 (not 37 at end of career), and 2 world class INTERNATIONAL defenders, who are monsters who scrap and win the ball ugly. If any money left over, buy some physical presence in midfield, so i dont have to watch the inconsistent Diaby or Denilson (bless him!).
Im not an “Arsene Knows Fan” ,or an “Anti Arsene Fan”, Im an Arsenal Fan! i want what our team needs, and has needed for past 3 – 4 seasons, and Wenger at end of each season has said our team needs …. a solid defence and to not be so naive. But once the season ticket renewals are all in and the money banked, he changes his tune to, “we are looking for players but nothing yet”.
At the moment we have 2 confirmed centre halves on our books which isnt good enough, TV5 who is quality but should be a second centre half, and Djourou who has been injured for so long that he just looks too skinny and weak. Maybe a lot of us were spoilt with the Tony Adams/Steve Bould/Martin Keown years, but we need defenders like Lucio. 100% focussed and he loves to defend.
This new guy may be good, and may become an international, in which case that is fantastic, but at moment he is not an international player, and so this summer is fast getting a sense of deja vu …….. come on Arsenal , spend some money!
and i would definitely take jagielka or gary cahill in a heartbeat ….. rant over.
I have no prob with eng players but he removed vermaelen for cahil and rvp for jet!!!
GK: sergio romero (AZ Alkmaar)
CB: koscielny and gary cahill
MF: joe cole (free)
romero
sagna-koscielny/cahill-verma-clichy
fabregas-song-joecole
van persie-chamakh-arshavin
http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896/premier-league/2010/06/29/2000841/arsenal-agree-85m-deal-with-lorient-for-defender-laurent
romero is already on his way to an italian club according az alkmaar!!!!
I think gary cahill would be a great signing..Does anyone know how much he would go for??
@chris:
Koscielny’s not that tall for a defender and he’s built like a telegraph pole….not at all the physique I feel is needed for the English game.
Koscileny is 186 cm John terry is 187cm and he aint a bad centre back.
terry and gallas won the premiership with terry being 6ft 2 and gallas being 6ft
Koscileny is nearly 6ft 2 and vermaelen is 6ft
What worries me is the lack of height in other areas
@ John this is exactly our problem we have 4-5 short starters and keepers that convert crosses in their own goal…
And we are actually the only team in the universe that block their own keeper in set pieces
@ slick lol
I know this is not part of discussion but One player i wanna see in Gunners T-shirt is and has been for long is El Nino..i know he’s too expensive and this and that if we’re gonna spend around 15 on Mario then why not persuade him in around 35 with selling off of Nick,Edurado and Rosiscky or some1 else sell someone not so good raise money and get him..when we can sell 3 can afford atleast 1 El Nino in wages as well..and with him coming Fab will surely stay and with RVP and El Nino upfront well we can run riot for defenders we are getting1 Verme has been awesome get Hangeland as back up he is good tall and committed and get Sol for a year..c’mon what say no loan deals for Wilsher he comes home..so we should not have prob for covering some1 we sell..Wt say?? and Torres is just 25 he’s got good 5 yrs in him by any standards..
People shouldnt keep comparing this guy to vermaelen its just not going to work out like that as we all know & you gotta agree with what “lady arsenal” said above about WHY we need to buy a few established players as i too believe a few players with winning mentalities rubs off on the others.
Also my how wenger must be pulling he’s hair out for letting gilberto go!! I dont know how many of you guys have been watching brasil’s games but the guy looks exactly the same as he did the world cup wenger signed him & maybe even better!!
On another note, ozil’s contract @ he’s club only has a yr left on it so that should be right up wengers street, no??
I WILL BE VERY DELIGHTED IF ONLY WENGER CAN BRING OZIL, JOE COLE, JOE HART OR EDUARDO PORTUGAL GOALKEEPER….
isn’t romero the goalie who let in a really crap cesc shot coz his hair was in the way?…. Eduardo has let 4 goals in in 19 games for portugal which is quality at the top level
why do you think AW buys relative unknowns or players past their prime? Its very simple. Arsenal are a selling club and not a buying club. His job has always been to scout upcoming talent, and take a calculated risk in negotiating a bargain price and then developing that player into a world class player that the club can then sell on to the bigger European clubs at exponential profit. It is a business, and it will never change. Buying a big name at 15+ million is very unlikely to yield any ROI in terms of cash at the point of sale, and probably more likely to result in a loss (especially if that player was in his prime when signed), so AW’s business model is exactly what it is “buy low – sell high”…….very basic fact of business and risk management. You only have to look at Chelsea to see exactly the inverse of this, and the debt they are carrying when considering expenditure vs revenue and net profit. So as a Gooner, you either live with this philosophy or go and support the likes of Chelsea or Manchester City where all of your dreams of buying big star names will be realized.
No probs with that policy atleast its always gonna keep us solvent..but the thing that srprises me most is even after these many years French FA hasnt offered national job..guy is fantastic and more than half the french team would have or is playing under him..he knows most players inside out and he knows to play the game in most beautiful manner still french FA doesnt want him handling
I WANT A NEW GOALKEEPER!!!! Preferably Neuer or Buffon.
ricky:i thought the same…gilberto is awesome.typical sweeper.simple passing.breaking attacks…exactly what is needed at arsenal!!!im not sure why arsene got shot of him….a big mistery!!! good enough for brasil but not for arsene!!!??? on the subject of wenger coaching france….the french FA would love to get him but hes commited to arsenal… we should be grateful!!1
we should get one of the two shefield centre backs preferably cahill… I dont rate romero, swarzer could do the job (hopefuly another van der sar) also an extra spark in the midfield wouldn’t go a miss… De Jong or Khadeira or Rodwell, whilst clearing out deadwood like rosicky, eduardo, vela, and traoure
we need a new keepa!!! i hope Koscielny will be good n works well wiv verminator, we need anotha cdm 2 coz denilson cnt ply der 4 shit nowhere near wat iz required from him in dat pos. hope we get a quality keepa wivout 1 ders noway we will survive da season wiv almunia n fabianski!!!
Let’s be calm, hope for the very BEST and then analyse and pass judgements on the team by mid-season. For sure, we need just more than one defender in the defence department. An Ivanonic type of player should very well suit us innit? BTW, I learnt Gay Assulin has been RELEASED by Barca. Ain’t he dubbed ‘the next Messi’ ? Gr8 job Chris.
I believe this guy will be unveil today since today is friday…
Chris, what do you think the chances are of us signing Per Mertesacker and a dm?
Side point – has anyone noticed that in the ‘official’ squad list on the website’s store and in flyers that have been sent out for the new kit Gallas, Silvestre and Campbell are excluded, in other words you cant choose any of them to be printed on the new kits. Expected but… Pretty official dont u think???
chris mate you are slow in reports these days, lol :-)!!
http://justarsenal.com/koscielny-in-london-and-ready-to-sign/4506/comment-page-1#comment-20884
On Friday, July 2, 2010 by Chawax
According to Ouest France, Laurent Koscielny has been in London this Wednesday night with his agent. The formalization of his transfer to Arsenal, first announced yesterday, is expected to take place during the day. There is talk of a transfer to 12 M € including various bonuses.
In the aftermath, FC Lorient expected to announce the arrival of the International Bowl Gabon Bruno-Manga evolving far in Angers. It was already tracked by Hake last season before the club finally decided to Laurent Koscielny.
also we are in talks for mertesacker!!!! lets get ozil, mueller and schweinsteiger, too :-)!!!!