Laurent Koscielny: ‘The leap’

This fantastic picture was drawn by @11Cannons, find the link to his Twitter and his website below, make sure you check out his work!:

Website: http://theartillery.bigcartel.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/11cannons

In many ways, Laurent has to be one of the most intriguing players that Arsenal have ever signed. Since signing for Arsenal in 2010, Laurent has come on leaps and bounds in his career in north London, and after some fans were left wondering why we were signing a, shall we say, not very well-known defender from Ligue 1 side Lorient, but Arsene Wenger was quietly confident that he made the right choice, and the evidence that Wenger was right is right in front of our eyes. He also “HAS THE POWER! (Of good looks)

Laurent was born in Tulle, a town in the centre of France on the 10th of September 1985 and grew up playing amateur football and playing for youth clubs, such as Brive and Tulle, the towns club that he grew up in.

Laurent Koscielny in an En Avant Guingamp shirt (he just doesn’t age!!)

Early in his career, Laurent was mainly played as a right back but loved the idea of playing as a centre back, and at French side Tours FC, he was given that opportunity and excelled in the role he loved playing in.

In 2001, Laurent found himself moving away from his family and moving to north-western France to grab the opportunity to play professional football for Guingamp, however, Laurent spent his first season at the club’s reserve team Breton, before he was finally called up to the first team in November 2004, making his first appearance in the closing stages of a game between Guingamp and Clermont, but Laurent’s team lost the game 2-1.

3 years as a Guingamp player had passed and after making just 47 appearances in all competitions for the club, Laurent had the opportunity to step up his career by joining Ligue 2 side Tours FC, the year after they were promoted from the third tier of French football.

Laurent Koscielny playing for Tours FC

Laurent made a good impression on the fans at Tours in his first season at the club, and after scoring 2 goals in a game against AC Ajaccio in the 2008-2009 season, he was deemed an important player to the sides defence and his outstanding performances that year saw him win the ‘Gold Star’ by French footballing magazine ‘France Football’, an achievement seen by many as a milestone in Laurent’s career.

34 games and 5 goals later, amongst many stand-out performances for Tours, he signed for fellow French side FC Lorient who were playing in Ligue 1, yet another step up in a career that seemed to only be going in one way.

Laurent Koscielny signs for FC Lorient

For a transfer fee thought to be around $1.7million in 2009, Laurent quickly found himself in the Lorient starting line-up week in week out and established himself as one of the most promising centre backs in the country.

Continuing to play in his favoured position, Laurent was a key player in the defence of Lorient in his first and only season and helped the club reach 7th position in the league, their highest finishing spot in the clubs history.

Although picking up a few red cards and giving away penalties in his Lorient career, he was still a solid defender who had the ability to get his team out of a sticky situation and defend the goal he was playing in front of at all costs. On the 7th of March 2009, Laurent finally scored his first goal in the colours of Lorient in a game against Marseille at the Stade Velodrome in a 1-1 draw with their fellow French team.

In another game where Laurent scored on the 11th minute against Bordeaux, he was sent off just 4 minutes later after a tackle against the one and only Marouane Chamakh!

‘The leap’

After an impressive season at Lorient, Arsenal came knocking on the door and after a number of offers from Arsenal, Laurent became an Arsenal player on the 7th of July, just one day after the French defender agreed personal terms with the London club.

Laurent signs for Arsenal

In all honesty, when Arsenal announced the signing of Laurent Koscielny from Lorient, I was quite sceptical and was struggling to see how this was a player that we needed to sign, and like many other Arsenal fans, I wanted a big name signing..

Could I have been more wrong? in Laurent’s first season with Arsenal, he was sent off in a game against Liverpool on the 94th minute following a second yellow card, and as I watched our new £8.45million signing walk off the pitch, my blood was boiling, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” I shouted ferociously at my TV screen.. Ok, I may or may not have said something offensive, but I wont write what I said as I’m sure were you all shouting the same thing!

Despite being SENT OFF (glares at the above picture) on his debut, Laurent scored his first goal in Arsenal colours in a 4-1 win against Bolton in September and 4 days afterwards, he made his European competition debut in a thrilling 6-0 win over Braga at the Emirates Stadium,partnering non other than Sebastian Squillaci!

Laurent’s first season got off to a good start after those two against Bolton and Braga and he was quickly becoming an important cog in the Arsenal’s clockwork footballing style of play, and thanks to a fantastic tackle on Aaron Lennon in a game against Tottenham Hotspur to stop them from scoring, Laurent was liking the praise he was getting from his manager and the Arsenal faithful. But, soon after, in a 1-0 loss to Newcastle, Laurent again found himself at the wrong end of Arsenal fans’ chants as he was sent off for the second time in his debut season. (continues to glares at the picture)

The season after, Koscielny and defensive partner Thomas Vermaelen both got off to a fine start, but in THAT game against Manchester United, Laurent saw himself come back from an injury that he previously suffered in a 2-0 loss to Liverpool, and it’s safe to say that his return from injury was overshadowed by the heart wrenching result against the Red Devils. Own goals, as well as red cards and giving away penalties, also seemed to be an unwanted feature in Laurent’s game as he painfully scored in the wrong net in a 4-3 loss to Blackburn rovers.

Later on that season, Laurent was a key player in the Arsenal v Barcelona fixture in the Champions League when Arsenal won 2-1 at home, and Arsenal legend Martin Keown said that Laurent’s performance that night was “impressive” and that he was “magnificent throughout”. Fancy reliving that night? I do!

Martin Tyler commentary: Goosebumps, but it’s Martin Tyler.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uv2mxzmVvdg

Great video, build up to the goal gives you the feeling of being at the game again..: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iFEtwb8xzo

Another great video, but the squealing after the goal is scored.. Ouch! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SL1ywupNPY

Despite the game that revealed the true Laurent Koscielny, the Laurent we all know and love today, he made an error in the League Cup Final against Birmingham City, a game which would have seen Arsenal lift their first trophy in many years. (resort back to the videos after reading this part, I certainly did!)

Anyway, putting the doom and gloom behind us, Laurent became a fan favourite in the final day of the 2011-2012 season as he scored the winning goal in a 3-2 win over West Brom that sent Arsenal into the Champions League the next season, which also meant we finished above north London rivals Tottenham Hotspur… Ha! and after his performances that season, Laurent Koscielny was voted the 4th most effective, important player for Arsenal that season, and he was quickly becoming a key figure in the Arsenal back line.

On the 3rd of February 2011, Laurent earned his first call up to the French national team in a friendly against Brazil and against called up on the 25th of August, and despite playing in both games, he made his first appearance in a friendly game against the United States on the 11th of November and France won the game 1-0.

24th of July 2012, the day Laurent signed a new long-term contract extension at Arsenal of around 5 years, and the fans were delighted at the thought of keeping one of our main players at the club for the foreseeable future, and his first goal in the 2012-2013 season came against Manchester City as he scored a late equalizing goal in a 1-1 draw at the Etihad Stadium and later that season in an emphatic win against Reading, he scored yet another goal which helped Arsenal come from 4-0 down to win the game 7-5.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQK-ZnF0HeU

In a thrilling game against Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena in the Champions League, Koscielny scored a goal that saw Arsenal go 2-0 up away from home but despite being knocked out of the Champions League by Bayern on away goals, Laurent’s performance in that goal was duly noted by the Arsenal faithful and is currently still doing a stern job in the Arsenal defence alongside the Big F*****g German Tower that is Per Mertesacker.

Again, in the final game of the season, a game which was a must win with fierce rivals Tottenham breathing down Arsenal’s neck in the race for Champions League football, Laurent scored the winning goal in a 1-0 win against Newcastle, a day which will forever to remember as the “1-1 at Newcastle!” game, thanks to some, shall we say, unfortunate? Tottenham fans.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exAyX6nJPPc

In our current season, Laurent Koscielny’s form has been on par with some of the best defenders in the world and, playing alongside Per Mertesacker, we seem to have the best defensive partnership we have had in many years and possibly will have for many years to come and the pair are currently making Arsenal unbeaten when the two defenders start a game together.

Laurent is well and truly a key player to any success that Arsenal may have and whilst on their quest to end their trophy drought, keeping Per and Laurent fit will prove to be the difference between success and failure.

As ever, I like to get my Twitter followers involved in the articles I write, and I asked my fellow Gooners to sum up Laurent Koscielny in just three words, and the responses were as follows: (Like in previous posts of mine, clicking on the persons @ will direct you to their Twitter!)

@Arsenal0819 described him as: “Solid, Skilful and Agile”

Whilst @Joshuarse47 took a different approach, saying: “Best Centreback around”

and @PavelKennedy said: “Quick, Agile, Determined”

@MahaGooner said: “Beast, Best, Boss”

And @UpdatingAFC said: “Boss, Overpowered, Determined”

And finally, @GoonerUpdates said: “Strength, Power, Determination”

Thank you to all who replied to that Laurent Koscielny question on Twitter.

I would like to do these types of questions in every post, so why not participate? look out for any questions I may ask before a blog post and YOU could be featured in the next one!