Arsenal have provisionally struck a deal, subject to personal terms and a medical, with FC Lorient for their young centre back Laurent Koscielny, Young Guns has learnt.
The Ligue One outfit announced this morning that Francis Coquelin would be going in the opposite direction, on loan. Although the two deals are not connected, an informal ‘link up’ which could see the two sides exchange youth players, in a similar way to the previous relationship with UD Salamanca, appears to have been the clincher.
No fee has been detailed about Koscielny, yet it’s expected he’ll move for a fee above €10 million euros in total, with potential clauses should Laurent fulfil certain criteria.
More to follow.
that a lot of cash for someone who will be a backup
back up to who?
Lloris is an excellent GK in a very poor team.You cannot judge on this match with this team .He you see the mexico game he was immense after being left to defend by his back four and france would have lost by 5-6 goal.Anyway he will never come to us as he played for Lyon and everybody know they ask big fee for their best player.And if you re following the french league a little he has a great season
And Hiro wtf is Kocielsny a back up.He is the new partner of TV.At least for the start of the season while Djourou comeback to full match firness.i dont think if sol stay we will buy another CB
Dont’ you guys get headaches from trying to figure out the formation and the players Arsene will use next year to fill out that formation?? I mean it’s fun to a certain extent, but I’ve gotten past that stage a long time ago. There are endless possibilities, and no one will know for sure until the first match of the season against Liverpool. All I can say is, I hope we stick with some variation of the 4-3-3. Be it the 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-2-1. But if we go back to 4-4-2, I won’t be upset at all because we played very attractive football with that formation the last time we used it.
I would like to see Traore, Evina and Sunu all join Coquelin at Lorient on loan. It would be really good for 4 Arsenal players to be somewhere together, and they are all French (Evina was), perhaps some other youngsters could come the other way. I doubt we would really miss any of these 4 for a season with the likes of Nordveit, Botelho and Watt coming back from loan deals and the rise of Afobe and Deacon, its hard to see any of them getting reserve run outs let alone first team.
Perhaps with these 4 French youngsters going the other way we could get the price of Koscielny down a little more. We could even send a few more their way on short term deals Simpson, Randall, Hoyte, Eastmond and a goalkeeeper. It could be a good option for players nearing the end of their contracts or coming back from injury too. That said there used to be a rule about how many players you could have on loan from one team, does anyone know if that rule still exists?
I really hope this Koscielny deal is signed, sealed and delivered. And, I think a youth link up with L’Orient would be excellent for some of Arsenal’s youngsters who don’t have passport issues and need just that little bit more polishing to be ready to play in the EPL.
Just a couple of additional thoughts: Koscielny, Vermaelen and Djourou will probably be the primary rotation at CB if Djourou is fully healthy and able to regain his form–which is a key IMHO to what AW may do in the transfer market. Campbell and a youngster like Nordveidt can provide sufficient cover if Djourou is completely recovered from his injury and starting to show that he can regain his form and perhaps improve. If there are any doubts about that AW may have to bring in another player, like Vertongen or Boughera, who is capable of playing the kind of heavy minutes in the CB rotation that Sol is now too old to put in.
If all are healthy, Arsenal has a nice rotation of Sagna/Eboue and Clichy/Gibbs at the FB positions. The key again is health. One of the reasons that Clichy did not play well until the end of the season was because he really wasn’t fully healthy–Traore had gotten burned so badly that AW lost faith in him and Clichy was rushed back into the lineup almost as soon as he was able to jog. It took quite awhile before he was fully healthy again and able to regain his form. The same thing could also be an issue for Gibbs, whose injury is much trickier to heal, as well as for Djourou. IMHO Arsenal must have both Djourou and Gibbs healthy and ready to regain their form–otherwise AW will have to look to find an additional player in the transfer market that he feels he can trust to back up at LB and/or at CB.
While I’m not a big fan of Denilson, his back injury also seriously impacted his play. While IMHO he’s still too small and not strong enough to keep from being muscled by bigger attackers, he was able to do a creditable job playing with Song and Cesc before he hurt his back. Anyone who has ever had a back problem can tell you how painful and debilitating it can be at times. And, when Denilson came back after his back injury, you could see how much it impacted his play: he was very stiff in his movements and often seemed afraid to throw himself into opponents or tackles. Depending on the condition of his back–some back injuries never heal or are “right” again–he may or may not be able to regain his form again. If he can, he may prove useful as a squad player, but, if he can’t, it may be that the best contribution that he can make to the club will be to help make Wellington Silva more comfortable in London when he finally arrives in January or next season (and AW may hold onto him and give him some playing time just for that reason!).
As already mentioned, one of the problems that the fullbacks had last season resulted from the lack of cover that they got from the wingers. While there were some matches when the wingers did a good job of tracking back and helping out (especially Bendtner, when he played on the wing), overall the effort was very inconsistent. Arshavin isn’t big enough to be very good defensively (and that’s not really why he’s in the starting XI), but, when he’s motivated, he can be a pest and really help out the FB. The problem is the motivation wasn’t always there, especially as the season progressed. Diaby’s another one who, despite having all the talent in the world, is maddeningly inconsistent and seems to put in the effort defensively when the mood strikes him. Then, there’s Walcott: except for the rare occasion, Walcott is a total liability in this regard-although he did have a couple of moments late in the season. Sometimes it appears that he doesn’t even know where he is supposed to go or what he should do in his own half. This puts a lot of pressure on the FB (usually the RB) defensively and can destroy the shape of the club’s defensive structure, leaving gaps for the opposition to exploit. It may look like the back 4 aren’t doing their jobs correctly, but it’s sometimes because the players in front of them aren’t doing theirs and are leaving them exposed. IMHO tightening up in this area would undoubtedly help solve some of Arsenal’s defensive deficiencies.
Don’t be surprised if Chamakh plays as something of a “withdrawn striker”, just behind RvP or Bendtner, in the formation upfront. He was very effective playing like this with Bordeaux and could be a pleasant surprise with RvP’s ability to control and pass the ball.
If Joe Cole does join Arsenal, don’t be surprised to see AW offload Arshavin. Arshavin can be absolutely brilliant, but he’s incredibly moody and can be useless or even a liability if he isn’t in the mood. He also has a way of talking “out of turn” to the media and criticizing the manager and club in a way that can alienate both the manager and the club–and that you don’t generally see from Arsenal players. I know that he played hurt and out of position a lot last season, but, with his wages, if Arshavin doesn’t show up motivated and play better this season, I could easily see him being shipped to another club. And, I wouldn’t be shocked to see him go this summer if Cole does join the club (although Cole and Arshavin together or spelling one another could add an interesting element to the Gunners’ offensive capabilities).
If AW decides to bring in another defensive player, Vertongen would seem to be the most worthwhile choice because of his versatility. He could be that extra CB who can give cover if it takes Djourou time to get back into form or if Djourou gets hurt again. And, he can provide a stronger replacement for Song when Song needs a rest than either Denilson or Diaby (Diaby has the physical strength, but not the consistent defensive strength to trust the position to in Song’s absence). To me, that flexibility would be worth whatever extra it might cost to bring Vertongen in.
And, finally, except for perhaps Vertongen, IMHO the next signing has to be a GK. There was a stretch last season when, literally, the keepers were gifting the opposition a goal a game. No club can win a title if that is the case. At this point I don’t particularly care who AW brings in: Green, Schwarzer, Sorenson, etc. (although I like the young Swiss GK). Almunia can be the # 2 until Szczeny is ready (hopefully after just one more loan spell) to take that spot over and challenge for the # 1 job. If Almunia doesn’t like that arrangement, I’d sell him and let Fabianski or Mannone fight it out for the # 2 job (although I wouldn’t let either of them get into any game that mattered!). Szczeny may be the future at the position for Arsenal, but the club needs competent keeping now and the other keepers that they have on the first team roster haven’t been able to provide that. AW must IMHO bring in someone who can.
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