Koscielny sits this one out

44 comments

1. If Arsenal had signed a CB and let Koscielny go for free, I doubt anyone would care too much. Instead this statement has made it into a battle over a couple of million. Unnecessary and unbecoming of this once great club.

   It does provide a handy distraction from the fact that we’re now going on tour having signed only an 18 y/o attacker from Brazil. Where’s the LB we said we wanted? Or the midfielder to replace Ramsey? (who ironically was let go on a free despite his value and wishes) Why haven’t we been able to offload any of the ‘deadwood’, which was among the things Raul and our new attitude was supposed to improve?

   It’s a shame. I was just trying to psyche myself up for the new season by absorbing all the content from the tour. Which will now be overshadowed by this.

   1. “Why haven’t we been able to offload any of the ‘deadwood’, which was among the things Raul and our new attitude was supposed to improve?“

      I think you know the answer to this , surely.
      Nobody wants our overpriced, underperforming players sitting on wages only a handful of other clubs could afford to pay.
      This was always going to be a big problem so no big surprise there.

      1. Yup. The point was about this being a distraction from issues they would otherwise be getting criticised for, rightly or wrongly.

2. For Koscielny to do this, there must be a serious breakdown in trust. He’s been nothing but loyal and the opposite of a troublemaker in all his years. Maybe his injury has something to do with it. Arsenal are fighting an unwinnable battle. They have nothing to gain by putting out that statement. Except the ‘leverage’ of tarnishing his legacy.

   My guess is we’d agreed to let him go, until the best transfer deal we could make was for Saliba for next season. Then we reneged. Would fit a pattern.

   1. Huh.. that’s an interesting possibility.

      Koscielny, LIKE A NEW SIGNING!

      1. Just saw Orstein on BBC say,

         “Koscielny argues that Arsenal are reneging on an agreement that would allow him exit as a free agent during the current transfer window, something the Gunners strenuously deny.”

         Missing out on the CL really messed up our recruitment plans. But this would be easier if we had good relationships with our players. Something we seem to be purposely throwing away.

         https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/48948345

         1. Ugh. That BBC article is even worse than the Guardian one

            1. Which I wouldn’t have thought possible until I read it. Bleh. I’m still renewing my Premier League pass, but it’s going to be a better season for Neutrals than Gooners.

3. It’s a screwed up situation for sure. I can’t imagine the contract situation on paper isn’t pretty well-defined. What might have been communicated verbally is a whole different matter, and is more likely the sticking point.
   This looks pretty bad for both parties, and is unfortunate. And it needs to be figured out. I wasn’t assuming a big part for Kos this season. But if he’s sitting or gone, then we really need options beyond Holding and Sokratis.

4. A reasoned and measured analysis – careful with this kind of thing!

   Shame it’s come to this. Arsenal has bigger things to worry about right now and doesn’t need any added drama. Let’s hope the club and Kos can reach a mutually satisfactory agreement. Then we can all move on.

5. Arsenal should let kos join St Etienne to replace saliba and bring saliba this season.

   1. Hire this man

6. So we have a situation where players we want gone don’t want to leave ( Mustafi, Ozil) ,while the ones we want to stay don’t wanna be here anymore( Kos , Torreira) . Perfect.

   1. Yes.

      It’s the Unai effect.

      1. I think your predictions – Arsenal ten place finish – from two seasons ago might come to past this season Tim.
         What a mess!

7. Thinking pragmatically, Koscielny is done, career over (just about) and losing him will have little impact.

   It is embarrassingly bad that he would leave this way. This situation perpetuates the narrative of Arsenal as a badly managed club. How did it/could it get to this?

   Would it have happened under Wenger? Perhaps, but I like to think that his connection with Kos would have made a difference. Who knows?

   A most inauspicious beginning to preseason.
   We haven’t kicked a football yet and we already suck.

   It’s all up to you, Edu. Take us to the top with your Invicibleness…

   1. Wenger would have let him go.

      1. Yes. He certainly knew when it time for everyone else to go.

8. Regardless of the verbal agreement l think Koz decision to leave was made out of respect for both the club and the fans; the man is certain that he has nothing more to give that will take the club forward. He came back last season not fully fit with the hope that his performances might save the club from another year in the Europa league but failed dismally. The man is sure that he is past the level required at Arsenal and needs a lesser challenge in league 1. Wanting a fee for a 33 years old injury prone player is just ridiculous and trying to keep him against his will because we might not get a replacement due to the tight budget is even worse. I’m starting to believe that all we have is the reported £45 million

9. Shard my bro, you nailed it.

   I wrote this on the last dying thread…
   “Koscielny? Love him, but he’s in the wrong. In many cases, a club would let a servant of his stature leave on a free, and it’s kind of unfortunate that we are in a position where we can’t afford to do that. But this management looks the ruthless, unsentimental one that Arsenal needs post Wenger. I also like the fact that they came right out and said Kosc refused the travel, instead of throwing PR spin on it. The Arsenal will be fine. Bitter medicine period ahead, though.”

   But, having thought about it, your take at the top of this thread is a far better read. That we reneged is not only plausible, but true to form.

   Tim’s spot on here…

   “The club could have won a lot of points here by just letting him go and replacing him but apparently we can’t or won’t do that. And now he’s angry, the club are angry, the supporters are angry, and Arsenal still need to buy a starting center back. I have to admit that I’m slightly worried about that last bit, about recruiting. Even if they are 100% in the right about the contract, Arsenal don’t come across too great in making this public and fighting with a captain over a contract so that they can get a couple of bucks out of him in a sale. ”

   Koscielny is also one of the lowest paid senior players at the club. Bellerin, Sokratis, Cech, Ramsey and Kolsinac earned significantly more. He’s the 10th highest earner at the club, and earns less than half of what Mkhitaryan does (and a quarter of Ozil’s wages). And he has, as Tim pointed out, literally bled for Arsenal FC.

   What a f*** up.

   1. The statement was meant to destroy Kos’ legacy. And its worked for the most part. It’s cheap vindictive grandstanding, all to hide the fact that the club is being forced to rely on an injury prone 34 year old, and they can’t even get along with him. How bad do you have to be to get someone like Kos to behave in this way?

      His injury management, the club’s collapse, and the promise of an exit are all given as reasons in the BBC article. It also says that an ‘acceptable’ offer is/will be there. I think the club refused/will refuse this offer because they can’t afford to sell him. Promises were made with a CL budget in mind. They now want to squeeze Kos’ health w/o giving him the job security that he’s being offered in France.

   2. Consider also that this was the management team that pulled out of a supposed done deal with Ramsey. I think there’s a real risk of their developing a reputation for untrustworthiness. Players from outside will be wary of that kind of management, and internally it will be demotivating.

      Now the Saliba deal may be off, and Tierney looks unlikely. Whoa. If we go into next season with basically the same squad minus Kos, Cech, Ramsey and Welbeck – four good professional veterans – and have to wait until late Fall for Holding and Bellerin to return… uh boy.

10. So then, he should have left amicably at the beginning of last season. Oh wait, he was injured and he needed someone to pay him to while he recovered. I see. OK then, he needed the club, so fair enough. Now the club needs him, so tough. It works both ways. He must also repay loyalty. I can understand why the club wants to keep him on. If we bring in young centre backs his experience will be invaluable towards helping them transition and develop. It’s not just about what he can do on the pitch but his role in the dressing room and training ground. No longer Kos the boss for me.

    1. Interesting. However, I just want to remind you that he was injured playing for Arsenal. In fact, he knew he was injured and probably should have had the surgery months before he snapped his achilles but he played on anyway because he wanted to help the club win the Europa League final and get into the Champions League. Painting him as someone who needed to get paid while he recovered is a bit rich.

11. it comes down to one thing; this is a new arsenal run by tyrants. koscielny recognized that with the way that cazorla, wilshere, and ramsey were treated last summer and welbeck this summer.

    the guys at the arsenal helm are ruthless and seem to lack the honor of the former. to attack a player on the website is as low as the +£1 bit on the suarez offer. you don’t put your business in the streets. what’s worse is, since wenger’s departure, there is no filter protecting the players from the nonsense happening at board level. any arsenal player would be foolish to trust the board and any prospect would be foolish to want to come to arsenal.

    it’s so hard to win in the premier league but it’s a shame that the players can’t even prep for the season without foolishness going on. i told you guys that when arsenal signed that raul guy, formerly of barcelona, that he was going to bring that barca bullsh*t with him. barcelona did well despite him, not because of him. this season is going to be a disaster. if i were tierney, i’d stay far away from arsenal.

    1. to everyone that wanted wenger and gazidis out, this is what that looks like.

12. i’d love to see young martinelli on the right with iwobi on the left. unfortunately, we’ve got other stuff that we’re focused on. how must player like iwobi, guendouzi, and torreira feel about returning to north london with this mess?

    1. Joshuad.

       I understand why some fans would be happy to see us start another project youth and It depends on what you as a fan want and your expectations in terms of results. Iwobe and Martinelli might be interesting and they would probably have a couple of exciting games but if those are our regular players that we are counting on the likelihood is we will struggle to finish in a Europa league spot above teams like Wolves and Leicester

       1. i’m not suggesting arsenal start another youth project. i was only saying how i was looking forward to seeing both iwobi and martinelli on opposite widths of the arsenal attack at the same time. instead of looking forward to that, i’m stuck watching the club try and screw players over for a ham sandwich and a bag of ruffles.

13. I am not suggesting the current administration has been brilliant or anything like that but part of the problem is they have a ton of work to do cleaning up the mess that was leftover from Wenger/Gazidis. The payroll very high based on results and we were heavily underperforming in the commercial/financial side of the equation. Worst of all the poor squad building decisions of the last several years left them with a squad which could only collect 63 points and was built around several overpaid underperforming senior players, many of whom are on the down side of their career arcs.

14. Edu is our hope now. Not for this window really, but maybe??

    Still, him going on tour with the team is going to help him assess the players, the staff, the dressing room environment. He’ll get to meet Kroenke. Set a stylistic blueprint for Emery maybe.

    In the meantime, we might be getting gazumped for Saliba by Spurs. If this happens it would perfectly exhibit a power shift. Shades of Petit’s taxi.

    1. Better coach, better stadium, less entitled fan base that’s less likely to abuse a player who’s trying to find his feet.
       Let’s face it, the main reason players came to Arsenal the last few years or so was because of the inflated wages and that’s over with.

       What agent would recommend Arsenal to their client under these circumstances knowing that there’s a 50/50 chance Emery might be let go at this season’s end.

       1. Honestly, that last bit might increase our chances.

15. Passive aggressive Wenger bashing still continuing. I cant imagine how bad this management must be if they think 33 year old Koscielny is still essential. He’s done well for us. Let the man go. Sign the person we needed even before this fiasco

    1. You could argue it’s not “wenger bashing” if it’s true. If we are discussing a topic would we rather get the correct answer or the one we want to hear?

16. Maybe this Arsenal management team can take some pointers from people running Kroenke’s other soccer franchise , Colorado Rapids.
    I hear they are tearing up the league .

    1. Surely you’re having a laugh…

17. The biggest mistake we made with players like Wilshere and Welbeck is not selling them a few years ago when they still had value. Welbeck is a decent 3rd or 4th striker to have in a roster but he has never been productive and he can’t stay healthy. Wilshere clearly should have been sold around 2015/16 when it became obvious that his protoplasm was just not built to be a professional athlete. We couldn’’t give either Wilshere, Welbeck or Cazorla long term contracts.

    Even though I was not in favor of moving Ramsey at the time but in retrospect he should have been sold in 2016 after his performance in Euro2016. He is extremely talented but other then 13/14 his production has never come close to matching his talent because almost every time he started to play well he pulls a muscle. He is 28 and his soft tissue injuries are not to become less frequent as he moves closer and then passes his 30th birthday. It would have taken a long term high dollar contract to keep Aaron. Given our past history with “injury risk” players I can certainly understand why a club would be reticent to give him that long term big money deal.

    1. I agree. Saved Wages will score and produce more for us.

    2. as you alluded to, hindsight is 20/20. if arsenal had sold those guys, retrospect also suggests fans would have gone bananas and accused arsenal of being a selling club.

       for my money, i would have extended welbeck. like van persie, he just had bad luck with picking up big injuries. while welbeck wasn’t the exceptional talent rvp was, he always made a serviceable contribution to the team and he could play anywhere on the front line. lastly, he was free. however, welbz may not have wanted to stay. the english lads, namely wilshere and chamberlain, that recruited him at england camp are all gone. while there are still english players at arsenal, none of them are anywhere near the england team. maybe he decided to leave. it’s a different arsenal.

       1. Welbeck worked hard for the team and brought an exceptional athleticism to the roles up top. But he was not a good striker or winger overall. His finishing was sh*t. I would never have extended him and would have sold him when the opportunity came up.

          Welbeck would not even make the bench at City, Liverpool or Chelsea. Maybe Spurs and United.

18. At his best Welbeck is a squad player when he is healthy but he misses so much time with injury that limits his value. Extending him would depend on how much it costs.

    No way a team who has to watch its money can could have extended Wilshere or Cazorla.

    I am a huge fan of Ramsey and the way he plays and I think Emery made a big mistake by not using him as much early in the season. However, I understand the reluctance to give him a long term high dollar contract. Last season just when Ramsey and the team rounded into strong form he gets another soft tissue injury and misses the critical part of the season.

19. I agree that our management has made a mistake with Kos. We should have just left him go back to France. It would be different if he was a star player but what is the point of keeping a player who is no longer very good and clearly does not want to be here

20. Kos to Raul:
    “All the other kids were doin’ it!”

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