Arsenal: Laurent Koscielny is truly remarkable

At 33, a year after rupturing his Achilles, Laurent Koscielny is playing some of the best football of his career. The Arsenal defender and captain is truly remarkable.

Laurent Koscielny has been one of the great Arsenal players of the past decade. Signed in 2010, almost ten years ago, the Frenchman slowly developed into one of the star players of the team, eventually forming a brilliant centre-half partnership with towering German Per Mertesacker.

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But since Mertesacker’s easing out of the team and subsequent retirement, Koscielny’s continued significance at the heart of the defence is arguably even more impressive. Even as he has aged and injuries have taken their toll, Koscielny has managed to not just remain relevant but actually establish his value as one of the imperative cruxes of the squad.

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In fact, since his return to the team this season after rupturing his Achilles almost exactly a year ago in the Europa League semi-final against Atletico Madrid, an injury that forced him to miss the end of Arsene Wenger’s reign and a French World Cup victory that he was scheduled to play a key part in, Koscielny has played some of the best football of his career. And given the standard that he has set throughout, that is not some halfhearted statement.

What has been most impressive about Koscielny’s recent run of form has been the manner of it. A normally continental, reserved defender, the now club captain has played with a brutish, almost British element that is often reserved for the hardest, most entrenched of centre-backs. Koscielny was always seen as athletic, skilful, but a little soft. Not so this year. He played with a three-inch gash against Manchester United that, according to the Arsenal physio, would have forced most players to be substituted.

On Thursday night, he and Sokratis, who has blossomed also in recent weeks in the over-30 back-three alongside Nacho Monreal, defended superbly to repel an extremely dangerous Napoli attack. The 1-0 win mirrored the clean sheet earlier in the week against Watford, also away from home, as well as the 2-0 first leg victory that saw Arsenal hold Napoli to just four shots on target over 180 minutes.

In Koscielny’s last five starts, Arsenal have kept five clean sheets. That is an overly simplistic stat, of course, and Koscielny is not the only reason for keeping clean sheets in those matches. But it does help to paint a picture of his defensive dominance at the heart of the back three, marshalling the troops, patrolling the backline, and leading the team with bravery and steel.

To play at this level after such a devastating level, at his age, — he will turn 34 this summer — is absolutely staggering. Many, myself included, questioned whether he would ever be a regular starter at the Emirates again. I never even considered that he could not just be a starter but return to his very best form.

It would be fair to say that Koscielny’s recent run has been remarkable. Even more that, it would be fair to say that he himself, as a character and player, is remarkable. Thank God, then, that he is at Arsenal football club.