Arsenal defender Laurent Koscielny has refused to train with the squad which naturally has put his career at the Emirates in doubt. And many people hope that Rob Holding to be the club’s saviour.
Koscielny refused to join the team on their pre-season tour following which the club released a statement making everyone aware of the whole situation.
“Laurent Koscielny has refused to travel to the US for our pre-season tour,” a statement on the club’s official website read.
“We are very disappointed by Laurent’s actions, which are against our clear instructions.
“We hope to resolve this matter and will not be providing any further comment at this time.”
After this incident, Arsenal have launched disciplinary action against Laurent Koscielny and there is a very big chance that the defender is set to receive some severe punishment in the coming few weeks.
And some reports also claim that Emery will look to send him out of the club and promote Rob holding as the next key man in central defence for the Gunners.
But former Arsenal man, Paul Mariner has urged the manager not to do so.
“We keep harping on [about] where do Arsenal need to strengthen, they need to strengthen at the back,” he told ESPN FC(as reported).
“Now the thing is, Koscielny is not the player that he used to be, but he’s still one of the better players that they’ve got in that back four – and it’s not a very good back four.
“Everybody’s waiting for Rob Holding to come back, he’s gonna be the saviour… he’s not gonna be the saviour! He is not!
“So Unai Emery has got to get hold of Koscielny and say ‘look mate, I need you to pull this around for another 12 months or until the window in January, and then we’ll maybe let you go or do something about it.’
“But at the moment, he is their player.”
Rob Holding spent most of the 2018-19 season out injured and he has not seen any game time for almost nine months now.
So clearly he will take his own sweet time to return back to full fitness meaning Emery just cannot take the gamble of giving him the leader’s role at the back.
