Laurent Koscielny is close to completing his transfer to Arsenal. Arsène Wenger has given the green light to the switch after finally looking over Lorient’s re-negotiated offer. The defender is now thrashing out a contract with Ivan Gazidis.
The transfer will cost Arsenal upwards of €10 million euros, and will include an indirect youth link up. Both sides plan on a long term future developing prospects and trading training methods, with Francis Coquelin’s season-long-loan a taster of what could be a promising relationship.
Koscielny was not present as Christian Gourcuff’s outfit returned to pre-season training today. He instead stayed behind to finalise a contract with Arsenal. As revealed on Young Guns previously, the Gunners agreed a fee last week, yet Lorient wanted to re-negotiate the terms of the payment. The agreement was then delayed due to Wenger leaving his mobile phone behind, but that’s now been fixed and agreed.
A spokesman for Lorient confirmed the details, but said confirmation of the transfer would not come before Thursday.
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Nice one J, you’re on top, it’s almost like you’re the first one who knows it, maybe you are Arsene ;)
Great news. Hope Koscielny does a Sagna and fits right into the team.
Good news that.
Hopefully Campbell’s situation becomes a lot clearer this week and further reinforcements can be made if required.
Utd go into seasons with only Vidic, Ferdinand and Evans (and now Smalling) – I don’t see what is wrong with Vermaelan, Djourou, Koscielny and Nordtveit (w/ maybe Campbell and Song as a last resort).
have utd sol brown and Oshea?
Well done J, good work.Now that Koscielny is as good as a done deal, what’s with the situation of signing a new GK and another CB?
Thanks! I don’t cover first team stuff on the website unless it has a youth team twist like this one. If you follow our Twitter page, I’ll put any details about that I hear on there.
typical arsenal… we’ll hear abt it when its 100% completed. lets hope koscielny is good player and fits in as TV ( which we know is not obvious with every player). lets get a keeper now and we’re ready for next season
Amit from Mauritius
we knew about this deal for atleast a month
good deal for arsenal and Loreint
and J if you keep going this way you will have the busiest arsenal fan site on the internet
I think our keeper signing is more than likely going to be schwarzer since he fits the bill and is exactly what we need right
Simpson is attracting PL interest from fullham and blackpool so we should get a good transfer fees if we sign him
Hey J, nice work as always…avid reader, not quite and avid poster…
I had an idea for the site though…not sure where to put it? Dunno about the logistics of it but I would love to see a forum message board on this site.
I think that would be pretty good.
Sounds good man. If you drop me an e-mail with more details of what you’d like, I’d be happy to look into it.
Cheers
Great reporting. Ahead of the game on this story.
The player where there was question marks raised about his age (name escapes me), is he due to link up with 1st team for pre-season or is he due to be loaned out?
Samuel Galindo? I think he has been with Arsenal for a few months now but is ineligible to play for us. I think we are waiting for a work permit to clear? If not its 24 months or something stupid
If he doesnt get the work permit then he will be loaned out and can come back when he gets x numbers of caps for his country
Galindo, that’s the one. Many thanks for info. Looking forward to seeing him play
J I was talking to some mates and we all think that lasts year double winning youth team was the best team to come out for a long time
It had
Szczesny
Bartley
Eastmond
Couqelin
Lansbury
Wilshere
JET
Watt
Sunu
NOw i know only a handfully will make it into the arsenal team but this looks like an awesome youth team and do you think its the best one in Wenger era?
Wilshere and Szczesny are sure to make it
JET, Lansbury, Bartley, Coquelin and Eastmond have a chance if they keep progressing in their loan spells
I dont think Sunu or Watt have an chance of making it (my opinion)
I think your mates are spot on. It’s a collection of fantastic players, who can all go very far in the game. It’s probably the most talented bunch we’ve ever had.
any idea what this years group will look like
Time will tell, but I agree. That was a great youth team and I think we could quite conceivably see four or five of those players as Arsenal regulars in the future, which would be a brilliant achievement. Like you say, Szczesny and Wilshere look to be almost certainties now. And those other five you’ve mentioned seem to have all the right ingredients. It could rival Fergie’s Fledglings! Steve Bould is turning out to be quite a coach.
Lansbury is being considered for a loan spell by a few PL clubs which is always good
I hope he signs for a PL team I think this boy can rival Ramsey or atleast the likes of Diaby and Denilson. He needs one sesaon in the top flight to prove himself hopefully he will get it this year
same goes for Bartley who like someone said is the next Rio
Coquelin I am sure if he does well in france will almost cement his place in the arsenal team.
Eastmond looks ready now forget about a few years. I didn see him make a single mistake for half a dozen games that he played for us and that getting straigth up after taking a hit made him my favourite. Its Something I havent seen from an arsenal player for a long time
People say when we will get the next Vieira I think we have him in this kid. Tell me one thing this kid is missing
JET is a very versatile and a very good player but doesnt he look like a bit overweight. Its probably his languid style mixed with the physique but I just dont see him becoming an arsenal player
Wilshere and Szcesny I agree are certain
add I think Bartley, Lansbury and Eastmond are certain aswell
Coquelin might make it through but a lot depends on how they do in their loan spell. I think he will fit like a glove in 4-2-3-1 even in a 4-3-3 but not as a DM but in a diaby or denilson role
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Hw bout the young wellington? Wil he b eligibl 2 play 4 us nxt season? He’s had grt revews hasnt he!
I think again it depends on work permit issues. If we are unable to secure one for Wellington I don’t think we ever will, he definitely qualifies for “special talent!”
He should join up with us in January, I don’t know about Pre-Season now though? I think so but again, not eligible for any games.
I THINK he will join up with us in January 2011 after he turns 18 because I think Brazilian law doesn’t let players leave until their 18th birthday. At least that’s according to http://younggunsblog.co.uk/Wellington-Silva/ which is obviously a very trustworthy source
Don’t you think that with the governments crackdown on non-EU immigrants that special talent visas will be harder to come by? I would have thought so. VIsas for footballers aren’t any different from normal workers coming here are they?
To be honest, I don’t really know anything about Government policies…I would assume that getting one for a footballer is the same as getting one for any profession, but at the same time I would also assume that the money in football would make it “profitable” for the government to allow them if they will bring in a good profit?
I don’t know.
Thank God something is close, I’m very worried about the CB situation. Looks less likely Sol will re-sign with us so we really need another CB and a DM (who hopefully can play a little CB like Song). Spewing City managed to get Yaya Toure as he wouldve fit the bill on the latter.
Everyone is linking us to strikers/attackers … I would like to see us making moves for more 22-27yr old CBs/DMs. The worrying thing is that we don’t really have young players who look even close to getting into the first-team.
Do you know what? I think Bartley is pretty close. I thought he did mightily well against Fenerbache (bar that one rash slide tackle into no-mans land) and considering he would be behind Koscielny, Vermaelen, Djourou and hopefully Campell then Sagna who can cover there THEN Song. I wouldn’t mind him getting a shot :)
Sorry but Bartley hasn’t played enough senior games to even remotely trust with 15-20 games next season and really that’s what we need.
I want someone a lot more dependable then freakin Silvestre. I don’t expect us to get an established/experienced first-teamer like Gallas but I’m hoping that we’ll have better depth in that dept then last season.
Wenger’s come out and said we need to get better defensively. He has the money and if he doesn’t spend it in that dept we are just setting ourselves up for the silly defensive mistakes we’ve been making the last couple of seasons in crucial games. It’s time to invest in the back-line. I was disappointed we sold Toure instead of Gallas purely because of his age but I don’t blame him for the amount we got for him. But NOW is the time to reinvest that entire amount and more in the backline. I’m one of Wenger’s greatest fans but we’ve needed a DM for the last 3 years and still haven’t bought one. No more excuses!!
If we rely on someone like Bartley to be our back-up after having so little senior experience and he makes errors then it’s on Wenger as far as I’m concerned. I’m all for bringing young players along but you have to do it in a measured way and having Bartley as a back-up would be like dropping him in the deep end. He’s not ready for it. Maybe in a year or two depending on how he performs on loan.
I agree, though I do think that we really don’t have any natural wingers which could be a slight problem going forward. Regardless, we scored enough goals last year. What I think we need is a 2-way midfielder to partner Song and Cesc. Someone perhaps like a Yaya Toure or a Flamini or De Rossi or a Xabi Alonso. Naturally those are unreasonable targets for us, but maybe like a Miguel Veloso of Sporting Lisbon (with whom we were linked a couple of years ago) would be attainable and would both sure up our defense and support Cesc enough with the attack that would really let us be a much better balanced team. Diaby’s too attacking for the role and Denilson hasn’t quite stepped into it yet…maybe next year he will but…
And as for this goalkeeping situation, I’m really not a big hater of Almunia – purely goalkeeping wise, I think he’s a good shotstopper and frankly not AWFUL on crosses. What he lacks though is the ability to coordinate a defense and consistency. We have a fabulous back 4 + Song, but we often look slightly disorganized there, and a strict ‘keeper (like Lehmann was) would sure up our defense immeasurably. And we only need one for the next 2 years because Szczesny will end up a number 1 (barring injury, knock wood)
@AussieGunner
Bartley wont be playing for us next season he will be loaned out
wenger knows who to play and he also knows he needs 5 CB for the start of the season
Vermaelen, Koscielny, Djourou are three CBs of the right age, Norvedit has been on loan for two and half years and has experience at the top flight, if sol stays then we will have another CB who can play 10-15 games a season and its more than enough CBs
would be great if we could someone like Jan Vertonghen from Ajax. He is very much like TV5 and can play DM and CB. Sol would have signed by now if he intended to. He would not like to be fourth choice now that he has the Celtic offer.
I hope Bartley is not our fourth choice CB. That would be too much pressure on our very young backline. Bartley needs to go out on loan and play in the Championship/lower level premier league team to give him some much needed game time.
Bartley is likely to go out on loan this season. He has said himself that Wenger told him he doesn’t think he’s quite ready yet for PL and wants him to be loaned out again. Nordtveit will probably be 4th or 5th choice (depending on Sol going and/or Vertonghen coming).
Remember that Eastmond will start to feature more regularly in the DM role this season.
thats wat im scared about….. we need a quality def mid like melo easmond needs to go on loan for 1 season and so does deiielson….. boltan would be the best destination for bth players…
melo will cost anyhwere close to 15-20 million and when eastmond is doing a good job filling in then why would you take that away from him
Aussie Gunner, Bartley has to start somewhere doesn’t he?? I mean everyone will be sceptical towards Bartely until he has a chance to prove himself. Why not give him a chance in the cup competitions and see how he does. If we have some meaningless champions league matches towards the end of the group stages, throw him in there and see how he does. We are only talking about 5-6 games here at the most. Maybe more.
Isnt it better for him to play week in and week out in championship than working each and every day and not even getting a chance on the bench
@Aussie Gunner – I obviously don’t think he is first team material but I’d say he has got to be a better partner for the more experienced CB than Silvestre!
Kyle Bartley may not have the experience but he definitely has the talent. Ask the the Sheffield United backline what they think of him. They were all praising his attitude and talent. The coaching staff has already stated that they would like to have him back for the season. From the youth set up Bartley and Nordtveit are the only two defenders who look like they could make it at Arsenal. Ayling is gone. Evina will soon follow suite. Cruise despite what a lot of people says is decent defensively but does not contribute anything going forward. Plus Arsene like his fullback as converted midfield player. That tend to give them better technique and better forward play.
Sanchez Watt may not seems to be the most technically gifted but he seems to have a never say die attitude that Arsene Wenger likes. I would not be surprised if he were near the first team the season after next. He looks like the kind of player that nobody really fancies and in the end makes it. A little bit like Ray Parlour the Romford Pele.
I agree about Bartley because he is an English CB and everytime I saw him play I always imagined him as the next Rio
Barking out orders to the team, physical in challenge, a good sense of positioning and he has a command of his area.
I know he is nowhere close to rio yet but if he keep progressing in his loan spell he has every chance of becoming as good as rio maybe even better
But not Watt he looks too lightweight for the PL and yes he has that never say die attitude but thats all he has
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get melo, kjaer, Koscielny and we are sorted out…..
if we buy any other player we need to sell before buy….
kjaer and cavani is almost done for Tottenham :( Cmn Arsene, do something.
no it isnt. do you really think spuds would pay 35-40 mill for 2 players at once
???
Palermo president said it himseld they have accepted a bid for both of them so yeah its pretty much done
but why should wenger go for him? we have so many good young CBs coming through so why waste our money on him
gk-schwarczer,fabianski,mannone,szczesny
cb-vermaelen,koscielny,djourou,campbell(bartley),nortveit
rb-van der wiel,eboue,coquelin
lb-clichy,gibbs,traore
dm-song,eastmond,emmanuel-thomas
cm-diaby,denilson,ramsey,galindo
am-nasri,wilshere,lansbury
wf-arshavin(gourcuff/van der waat;switch position with nasri if either come),rosicky(cole/hleb),walcott,vela,barazite
cf-van persie,chamakh,bendtner
players out-almunia,gallas,senderos,silvestre,sagna,fabregas,merida,eduardo
I will never lose Fabregsa or Sagna
I think if we are not going to sign Cole then I will give Eduardo another year.
kjaer joined the spuds !
i realy like him and from i saw about him in wc i rate him so high , sad ….
by the way , great work j , i am realy a big fan of the site , keep it high
have a nice day gooners
his agent dismissed the reports so did spuds
Great Info and one to trust…excellent is the word……..Do you have any news on Samuel Galindo? What about any other transfers?
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I like what I have seen of Bartley. I wouldn’t mind having him on the squad as the fifth CB, although it could be argued that it would be better for him to go on loan and get regular playing time rather than sit on the bench most of the season.
A CB rotation of Koscielny, Vermaelen and Djourou could be pretty solid. But, given the number of matches and Djourou’s injury history, the club can’t go into the season with Bartley and Nordveit as the only cover behind those three. Signing a versatile veteran player, like Vertonghen, who can play both DM and CB would be ideal since he could help take some of the load at DM off of Song and would not stand in the way of Bartley’s progress at CB in the future (I happen to think that, with a little more seasoning, Bartley could develop into a really solid CB in a year or two and, if he does, he’ll have to get playing time–with Koscielny, Vermaelen and Djourou all being relatively young, none of them is going to want to sit out very often). Adding another established veteran CB might be nice in the short-term but could really stunt Bartley’s development and even that of Djourou (if he stays healthy) unless it was someone who was older and nearing the end of the peak of his career (and, in that case, would it be worth adding him in any event?).
its simple if sol leaves then wenger will go and buy defender if he stays then he wont
and the CB wont be young he will be old and cheap
someone like Boughera looks like the right age and price.
I think Bartley will more than likely be loaned out. He needs experience in championship and then PL and he knows this. He said it himself that he needs two years to be to Arsenal standard
Norvedit will be used sparingly and maybe miguel will be used in carling cups or wenger will put Sol and Norvedit in carling cups
how do we know this is good news? I hadnt even heard of Lorient before let alone the player himself. we can but hope!
thank you Jay,.. by what name is the twitter page which you were talking about and waht more useful first team reference can you provide there….
I will be well happy if Yaya going to City makes Nigel de Jong available, him and Song playing in front of the back 4 ala Gilberto and Melo or de Jong and Van Bommel would give us great protection and allow our AM@ and striker the license to thrill
Schwarzer
Sagna, Koscilney, Vermaelen, Clichy
De Jong, Song
RVP, Fabregas, Arshavin
Chamakh
Almunia
Eboue, Djourou, Another CB, Gibbs
Denilson, Diaby
Nasri, Ramsey, Rosicky
Bendtner
Mannone
Hoyte, Nordveit, Bartley, Botelho
Eastmond, Lansbury
Walcott, Barazite, Vela
Eduardo
Loan outs – Fabianski, Sczcesney, Coquelin, Traore, Wilshere, JET, Cruise, Frimpong, Sunu, Watt,
I would go for Micah Richards as our other CB i reckon a £20m offer for him and de Jong will be enough if not Cahill.
JS,
How do you think the will the Tory immigration cap effect future player acquisitions?
Bring in Arne Friedrich for 3 – 4 Million. He can be a stop gap solution until one of Bartley or Nordveit are ready. He can fight it out with Koscielny and Djourou for the starting spot. I dont think Friedrich is great but he can definetly do a job and for 4 million he is a bargain.
wolfsburg has almost got him
MICAH RICHARDS IS CRAP COME ON PPL HES USELESS PLUS HES SHORTER THAN VERMAELEN, KOSCIELNY, DJOROU HES 5FT 11 HES RELIES ON HIS PACE AND POWER AND DOESNT HAVE A BRAIN.
Arne Freich is crap as well. Hes better as a full back but Germany have got better centre backs like jerome boateng, mat hummels, Bendict howedes, serdar tasci these guys are better than merstersacker and freidrich.
I like the look of Mats Hummels, he’s still very young though (21). Vertonghen would be my pick, a bit more experienced and also versatile as he can play DM.
richard can be a a very good signing
he can play right back and also play as a CB when needed
people look at his height and say he cant play he is the same height as vermaelen and have anyone seen his physique or his leap
he scored more goals than any CB in the city team because of his leap which is impressive for someone of his physique.
he can solve our RB problem and he can even play DM. I hope wenger signs him he can do an excellent job for us for years and years to come
sol is in glasgow right now
so if he leaves then we need a defender
We need one defender maybe Paper diakhate or upson
De Jong would be a great acquistion
are any PL interested in our youngsters
I know about Wilshere but who else?
Gooner are you serious Upson? WTF did you watch the world cup? Upson is shite
as a backup
he did ok in the world cup he looked better than terry in the germany game even thoug they were both as you said shite
he’s off the right age and the right price. I wouldnt mind having him as 4th choice CB for 3-4 million but boughera looks more likely
Why can Sol stay another season???
cant*
Because he wants to play regularly and we can’t give him as many games as he wants. I’d love to keep Sol for another year (maybe even two), he’s such a strong, inspirational leader that would make a huge difference to the development of our young CBs. Fingers crossed he hasn’t ruled out staying with the Arsenal
he was in glasgow so maybe he’s already gone
I hope wenger convinces him but I dont see it happening
Upson would be a good player to bring in and whats wrong with rotation
yes he wont start every game but he will play in CL, we will have injuries and he will get playing then
did anyone see Sol playing so many games before he signed for us?
I had hoped Sol will stay but he is sure to go to Celtic now this probably means we need to bring in another CB but I doubt we will bring in someone like Kjaer, Tasci
I think it will be someone in his late 20s BOugera is a possiblity, so in Upson it will probably be someone who is the cheapest and who can fill in when needed
again dont expect chilleni because you will be left disappointed
I doubt wenger will bring both NOrvedit and Bartley into next season first team. Bartley needs experience and Norvedit can handle week in and week out games in PL yet.
Arsenal need Felipe Melo.
if we stay with a 3 man midfield which I think we will do, you need 1 defensive holding player which naturally is Alex song. You need 1 attacking midfirlder with ability to open up defences and score goals. We have that in our captain Cesc. and the 3rd Midfielder is the most important because he needs to be able to do both !
Felipe Melo can do both. Melo is everything that denilson dreams of becoming but will not succeed.
On the Cesc issue, If he goes we will need a replacement and I am sure one will be bought but my money will be on Jack wilshere claiming that role before long.
After Englands awful performance this world cup, people asked where our Mesut ozil was ? I think Jack Wilshere will do the same role for england and arsenal as ozil does for Germany.
Diaby did the same job as Melo for the france team and Denilson can do the same job as well and do a good job of it
Melo is 26 denilson is 22 theres a difference and I think wenger will keep Eastmond in the team. He has done a very good job as a DM player
Wilshere is one of the few players who hasnt disappointed us one bit and I think another year and he is ready to take the role.
He wont be as inspirational as Cesc because of his young age but he can produce the same magic as cesc but it will take time
IF CESC DIDNT HAVE “BARCA DNA” THEN I WOULD HAVE HOPED CESC STAYED WITH US FOR ATLEAST TWO YEARS AND BY THEN WILSHERE WOULD HAVE COMPLETELY LEARNED HIS TRADE.
but when Cesc leaves next year we can use Wilshere and Nasri in his place and I am sure they wont disappoint us
Matthew upson has been unlucky injuries have ruined. I always thought he was a good player at arsenal, great left foot, great pace he looked a quality player but he was dogged with injuries
I think if Upson is cheap then I will take him
but west ham owners are pretty stupid and might come out and put a 10 million fee on his head
I personally think that bartley is a better centre back than Norvedit!! Norvedit played most of his games as a DM and is not as suited to be a premiership CB as Bartley is!!
However I don’t wanna see wenger making either of them 4 choice! Djourou has just come back from a long injury and is bound to get injured again!! I don’t want r chances finished b4 we even start!! Wenger can’t let 2 main CB’s go without replacing them!!
In a perfect world we pick up ozil and hazard!! :)
how many games have you seen of either??????????????