Arsenal: What do we actually expect out of Laurent Koscielny?

Laurent Koscielny has returned to Arsenal training, with a return set for 2019. But what can we actually expect from him?

Laurent Koscielny hit headlines for the first time in awhile, probably the first time since he was injured in the first place. The Arsenal captain has returned to training and is making ‘excellent progress’ towards his return this season.

Early reports suggested he wouldn’t be back until 2019, but there is always a chance he could return at the tail-end of 2018 and nick in there before the January transfer window opens.

Which is all well and good. Whenever he gets back, he gets back. He is leaving in 2020 when his contract runs out, so he’s going to have the rest of this year and another full season to ply his trade and do what he can to drive his long-time club to a Premier league title.

But the question we need to be asking is how much can we legitimately expect out of him. This is something I have covered before, but as we move closer to the question needing an answer, I figure it is worth exploring again. Because it’s an important question.

After the way our summer transfer business went, I began to think that maybe a lot more is being invested in Koscielny than I thought (and then should be). The Frenchman was a bit of a mess last year alongside his fellow mess Shkodran Mustafi. I would have thought that’d have been enough for a bit of caution to be taken in regards to both of those players.

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But then we loaned out Calum Chambers and, suddenly, there are two centerbacks and two alone. No one else is ready to take one of those roles.

Except, of course, for a healthy Laurent Koscielny, who could very well be the hidden key to this defense that Unai Emery is banking on.

Which is quite contrary to what I expected to happen. I expected Koscielny to be in Per Mertesacker mode. He could lead from the sidelines and be called upon when absolutely necessary, but apart from that, no point in getting him further exposed, like he was last year. This isn’t looking to be the case though, with how thin the defense suddenly is.

Who knows. As always, this is speculation, but loaning out Chambers and not replacing him was a major telling point that something else had to be in the works. Maybe that something is a mixture of youthful inexperience and Koscielny’s veteran mentality.

When you factor in the captaincy too, I think it starts to graduate from the realm of speculation. Emery might well have much higher expectations out of his captain than we all did at the end of last year.