Arsenal transfer news: Unai Emery wants Laurent Koscielny to stay put

Amid a breakdown in relations, the 33-year-old is expected to call time on his nine-year career in north London, with him focused on returning home to France

Alan O'Brien
Thursday 01 August 2019 10:44 BST
Comments
Arsenal advert reveals new Adidas kit for 2019-20 season

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Arsenal manager Unai Emery has said he is fighting to keep captain Laurent Koscielny at the Emirates beyond this summer.

The French defender fell out with the club after his request to leave for another side was rejected.

He later refused to travel with Arsenal on their pre-season tour of the United States.

Amid this breakdown in relations, the 33-year-old is expected to call time on his nine-year career in north London, with him focused on returning home to France.

But Emery admitted he is working to keep hold of the experienced centre-back as Arsenal look to sure up their backline.

After Arsenal’s pre-season friendly draw against French side Angers, Emery said: “Koscielny is a very important player for us and I don’t lose hope for him to be with us next season.

“I am speaking regularly with him and I am trying to convince him to stay with us.

“But at the moment his first idea is still to leave and this situation is making us change our ideas about the centre-backs.”

Despite wanting Koscielny to stay, Emery insists Arsenal are keeping their options open and will look for a new centre-back if he does end up leaving.

“It makes a big difference to us if Laurent plays or not,” the Arsenal manager added. “The transfer window closes in eight days and we need to speak about what we do now.

“We want to be strong in the defensive line and we are thinking about how we can replace him.

“If we can sign one more centre-back it will only be if he is clearly better than the six we already have.”

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in