Arsenal: Can we really let Laurent Koscielny go now?

Arsenal don’t appear to have any intention of signing a new defender. So is it really the best idea to let Laurent Koscieln go now?

Arsenal have been toying with the idea of letting Laurent Koscielny go, and it’s worth exploring. Borussia Dortmund and several Ligue 1 clubs have appeared interested in the venerable captain, and as we saw last year, he can still be a huge difference maker, even in what small capacity he’s able to be used.

The Gunners seem to be moving on, right? They went and landed (assuming…) William Saliba for next year, they have all these young players getting healthy and Calum Chambers returning from loan. It’s all shaping up nicely.

But now that it appears that we might not be in the market to actually sign another centerback, is it really a good idea to be letting Koscielny go?

Trust me, when we were linked to Joachim Andersen, I was all for it. Of course you let him go. Get on with life, move on.

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But if the plan is to let Rob Holding, and Dinos Mavropanos, and Calum Chambers and maybe even Krystian Bielik fight for spots on that starting XI, a veteran presence is going to be vital to our successes, again, even in what little capacity he can be used.

We have Sokratis. That’s true. And he’s a blessing to this defense, but he wasn’t enough of a blessing to fix the defense all on his own, so he can’t be expected to do so next season, with Koscielny shipped off elsewhere.

Koscielny has health problems these days, he’s old, he can’t stay healthy. But having him around the locker room, to instill the values of this club on the young men who aspired to have his role one day, isn’t that worth the cost of one more year of his services?

I’m not saying I’m sold, but it all depends on what we plan to do with our transfer window, and if we sign a new defender. If we don’t sign anyone, I think you can’t let Koscielny go. We’d be worsening our defense, and that doesn’t make much sense.

He can only be let go if we plan on replacing him directly. The risk is too great to justify any potential reward. And it’s not exactly at a loss to us if he hangs around for another year. Won’t do any harm.