Koscielny signs new deal

Laurent Koscielny has signed a new long-term contract with Arsenal. We said just over 2 weeks ago that Koscielny and Arsenal had started negotiating a new deal at the club.

The Frenchman was one of Arsenal’s most improved and most reliable players last season, following an up and down first year in English football. He has started 85 games for the club since arriving from Lorient in 2010. Koscielny’s goal secured Champions League football for the club on the final day of last season in the 3-2 win away to West Brom and his excellent form throughout the campaign earned him his first cap for France against the USA last year. He was also part of the French squad at Euro 2012 and he impressed during the tournament too, playing the full 90 minutes in France’s 2-0 defeat to eventual winners Spain in the quarter-final. Despite the result, Koscielny put in a great display and won many plaudits back home in France as well as England for his display.

Arsene Wenger said the following on Koscielny committing his future to the club:

"“Laurent has been outstanding for us over the last two seasons. When you consider that until 2009 he was playing in Ligue 2 in France and that he is now performing at the very top level in the Premier League and for his country, the development that he has shown has been absolutely exceptional. Laurent is a top-class player and I am very pleased he has decided to commit his future to the Club.”"

"Koscielny said: “I’m delighted to have reached agreement with the Club. I have had a fantastic time here and look forward to an exciting future with Arsenal.”"

This is fantastic news for the club. With all the speculation regarding Van Persie’s future this summer, it was vital to get this deal signed. Koscielny has been a huge part of the Arsenal side over the past two years. He made mistakes in his first season, but also put in some fantastic performances that year. For example, when we played Barcelona at the Emirates, Koscielny stood out and I would say that it was probably his best display in an Arsenal shirt to date. People will always remember the one terrible moment in the League Cup Final against Birmingham that year and say he had an awful first season. The truth is, it was very mixed. Up until that Birmingham game he was playing well and had just had that superb display against Barcelona as mentioned above. After that Final, ARSENAL slumped. Not just Laurent, the whole team did. They had Fabregas as captain and he didn’t even want to be there. They had Nasri there who was clearly considering his future. Who knows, Van Persie may have been too?. The team fell apart, but everyone blames Koscielny for the mistake that day.

As I said, his second season was superb, his first was good for over half of it. I’m looking forward to his bright future with the team. Like Wenger says, for someone who was in the French second division just a few years ago, to do what he has since arriving at the Emirates has been amazing. Fantastic news and commitment from Koscielny. With his contract up in 2014 we needed this to happen this summer, otherwise we would have been looking at another bad situation. Now try and keep Walcott at the club and try to get other players that want to be there like Alex Song, tied down to a long-term deal and maybe we can have a team that wants to be there and wants to win things.