Arsenal: Time To Consider Looking Beyond Laurent Koscielny

Everyone has been talking about the decline of Per Mertesacker, and how he will not be receiving much game time net year. Thus, a new centre back should be bought to cover for him. However, we might only be hinting at only a small part of the problem.

Throughout the clamour for a new center back, there is one thing that unifies Arsenal fans (imagine that!): that any new centre back would only ever be the partner to Laurent Koscielny. Much as I would love this to be, we may have to be a bit more pragmatic while analysing this.

Mertesacker’s performances last season show that he is surely on the way down. He was always painfully slow, and it seemed as though next season would be one too far for his thirty-one year-old legs.

arsenal, gabriel paulista, laurent koscielny

Gabriel is quite similar to Laurent Koscielny, though still far from the Frenchman’s level (OLI SCARFF/AFP/Getty Images) /

However, I still believe that he has a future ahead of him, as he never really used his physical ‘gifts’ anyway. He never had any pace to lose, but his astuteness of positioning and sound temperament would only grow with experience.

However, his partner and compliment, Laurent Koscielny is the opposite in most ways. Powerful and proactive, his game contrasts Mertesacker’s, in that he is highly dependent on his body,and physique.

Which is the sort of thing that deteriorates as a player grows older.

Koscielny is now on the wrong side of thirty, and with that will come, not necessarily an immediate dip in performance, but perhaps a greater susceptibility to injury, as well as the odd lapse in concentration ( see Harry K*ne’s goal against us last November).

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This may seem surprising as there has been very little evidence (barring what I have just provided) of any such occurrence, but there are many examples of top class Premier League centre backs suffering unexpected, dramatic drops in quality with age, like Nemanja Vidic and now Vincent Kompany.

Who’s to say Koscielny might not go the same way?

Thus, Koscielny, at 30, cannot be expected to be a mainstay in the side for too long into the future. The Arsenal centre-back question has so far only been limited to the other centre back, but should now be extended further.

Fortunately, it appears as though Wenger is wise to this issue. With Koscielny’s heir-apparent Gabriel far from perfect in his performances, he has brought in Rob Holding, a young centre-half of the same ilk. Thus, in the long-term, Arsenal’s numbers for a player in that mould look to be set.

Injury might strike Laurent Koscielny increasingly often (Photo by Alexander Demianchuk\TASS via Getty Images) /

However, for the coming season, doubts remain. Koscielny has improved every single year that he has been at the club. But that upward trajectory will have to stop at some point. It would be reckless to depend on him entirely next season. Gabriel remains a wildcard, Holding is unproven, and Bielik is the only even half-natural centre back in the academy ranks that is near a breakthrough.

Thus, questions abound regarding the state of Arsenal’s central defense, and they may be more deep-rooted than meets the eye. I would certainly recommend investment in another experienced centre-half (doesn’t have to be particularly flashy or expensive), to bolster the ranks for the next year or two, while some of the other questions, like Gabriel and Holding, sort themselves out.

Next: 5 Positional Battles To Watch

What are your thoughts, Gooners? Will Koscielny remain reliable and near-perfect, or should a signing be made? What sort of signing? What can we expect from the centre-back position in the future? Make your opinions known in the comments below.

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