Arsenal: Laurent Koscielny for David Luiz? I’d take that

What Arsenal essentially did is trade out Laurent Koscielny for David Luiz, and at the end of the day, I can’t argue with that swap.

This was a mightily eventful summer for Arsenal, and it culminated in the signing of David Luiz. While I haven’t been the biggest fan of this pursuit, I am willing to set aside my naysaying and my doubts to give him a chance. Perhaps my “I’d prefer Mustafi” article was a bit… temperamental.

What this really added up to is the Gunners seeing their captain and defensive kingpin Laurent Koscielny leave, and then answering his departure with the arrival of David Luiz. Both have tremendous experience in the Premier League, both have trophies to their name. But now only one is a Gunner.

At the end of the day, had you told me that we are going to swap out Koscielny for Luiz, I think I would have taken it.

What it really comes down to is practicality. There’s still that emotional connection to Koscielny, which was thoroughly eliminated in his forced departure, but from a practicality standpoint, Koscielny is not a serviceable option anymore.

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We saw that last year. He couldn’t stay on the pitch, he’s beaten up. He’s been around the block too much. And he really never was the outspoken leader that we wanted him to be. He spoke with his play on the pitch.

Luiz is serviceable. He is still very athletic, and while the defensive mistakes may bug him, same as they do Mustafi, Koscielny was far from perfect at his advanced age either. He struggled to keep up with the Premier League attacks out there.

And Luiz is that outspoken leader, who doesn’t mind shouting at team mates, holding them accountable, and making himself a presence. There is a value to that that should be taken into account when assessing this transfer, and it’s a value that I had overlooked in my fit of negativity.

If nothing else, we traded out a guy who probably wasn’t going to be able to feature much at all, simply because of physical limitations, for a guy that can feature as much as we want. And having a two-year contract, we may only need him for another year, since William Saliba will be joining next year and Rob Holding will be back to full health.

It’s a practicality move. It may not improve our defense that much, but it will definitely help in some regard.