Laurent Koscielny has chosen not to train with the Arsenal squad and news around London is that the defender will be sold off during by Unai Emery in the coming few weeks.
While most pundits feel that selling him off will be the right punishment but former Arsenal striker Paul Mariner had said that Unai Emery should be smart to recognize the importance of his captain and keep him at the Emirates despite of all his faults.
“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,” Mariner told ESPN(as reported).
“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.”
And now Unai Emery has finally broken in silence on the whole incident saying that Laurent Koscielny is still an important player in his squad but the ultimate decision lies with the management.
“He started training with us this pre-season and I spoke with him three times for his situation,” Emery told reporters.
“We wanted him to come with us on this tour but he decided to stay.
“Now it is a matter for the club and for the player. He has one year left on his contract. For me as a coach, he’s an important player. Now it’s one matter for him and the club.
“The club and him need to speak, they are speaking about his situation. I cannot say more than that.
“I spoke with him before he came here and he decided to stay there.
“We spoke with a good spirit for both the team and him but this is his decision, only his decision. He’s speaking only with the club.
“Really I cannot say more about that. For me now it’s clear we need to keep moving ahead.”
UPDATE:
Sky Sports are now reporting that Arsenal have made a decision to let Laurent Koscielny leave this transfer window but only if the interested party is willing to meet the pricing demands.
The report states: “Arsenal are open to letting Laurent Koscielny leave the club provided their valuation is met, Sky Sports News understands.”
