Laurent Koscielny’s retirement will be met by a mixed response from Arsenal fans – he had nine successful years but left acrimoniously

When Laurent Koscielny arrived at Arsenal from Lorient in the summer of 2010, he was relatively unknown in England, having only played one season of top-flight football in France.

It was certainly a gamble for manager Arsene Wenger, who often signed players from his homeland and gave them an opportunity to develop their talents in the Premier League.

That summer saw plenty of change in the Arsenal defence, with William Gallas, Sol Campbell, Mikael Silvestre and Philippe Senderos all leaving the club on permanent deals.

This left Arsenal desperately in need of help in central defence and Wenger’s main target was Koscielny, who had impressed for Lorient having arrived from then Ligue 2 side Tours in 2009.

Despite his lack of experience at the top level, Wenger was convinced by Koscielny’s abilities and spent £8.5m on the defender.

His debut season saw a mixture of ups and downs as Arsenal tried to end a six-year wait for silverware.

Mixed debut season for Laurent Koscielny

He was sent off on his debut for the club for two bookable offences, both of which occurred in stoppage time of a 1-1 draw with Liverpool at Anfield.

A few weeks later, Koscielny scored his first goal for the club in a 4-1 win against Bolton Wanderers at the Emirates Stadium.

Having put the hosts ahead, an error from the Frenchman allowed Johan Elmander to equalise for Bolton before half-time.

The Gunners were able to see off Bolton in the second half, as Koscielny continued to try and adapt to English football.

By the time new year rolled around, Koscielny seemed a little more settled in England as his performances improved.

In January 2011, Arsenal didn’t concede a goal in the Premier League as Koscielny formed a solid partnership with Swiss defender Johan Djourou.

He also scored a vital goal in the League Cup semi-final as Arsenal beat Ipswich Town 3-0 at home to overturn a 1-0 deficit from the first leg.

A week later he scored the winner against Everton as Arsenal came from behind to beat the Toffees 2-1 at the Emirates Stadium.

Arguably the best performance of his debut season came against Barcelona in the first leg of a Champions League last-16 tie.

The Gunners beat Barcelona 2-1 and Koscielny played a key role in defence, earning many plaudits in the media for his fine defensive display.

Although he had recovered well from a shaky start to life in England, Koscielny was involved in a major error in the 2011 League Cup Final that cost Arsenal dearly.

League Cup final error

Arsenal faced Birmingham City at Wembley Stadium aiming to win their first trophy in six years and with full-time approaching, the final was set to go to extra-time at 1-1.

A defensive mix-up between Koscielny and goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny allowed substitute Obafemi Martins to pounce and score Birmingham’s winner in the 89^th minute.

Arsenal’s wait for silverware would go on, as they crashed out the Champions League and FA Cup within the next two weeks and their title hopes gradually faded away too.

The following season saw even more change at the club as club captain Cesc Fabregas departed for Barcelona and both Samir Nasri and Gael Clichy left for Manchester City.

With a significant number of departures, the club struggled in the early stages of the 2011-12 season.

No performance summed up Arsenal’s summer of misery more than the 8-2 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford in August 2011.

Koscielny returned from injury to start the match in Manchester, but there was nothing he could do to help prevent the thrashing the Gunners received.

As a result of the heavy defeat at Old Trafford, Arsenal signed a long-term partner for Koscielny in the defence.

Partnership with Per

Per Mertesacker arrived on transfer deadline day from Werder Bremen and the two formed a solid partnership that would last for many years to come.

Despite being a defender, Koscielny had a habit of scoring important goals for the club during his time at the club.

In 2012, he scored the winning goal against West Bromwich Albion as Arsenal won 3-2 at The Hawthorns to secure Champions League football for the 2012-13 season.

He repeated the feat the following season, when he scored the winner at Newcastle on the final day of the season to once again secure Champions League football for Arsenal.

By now, Koscielny and Mertesacker were becoming a reliable pairing for the Gunners and Arsenal’s defensive record started to improve.

The club challenged for the Premier League title in 2013-14, but ultimately fell short in the second half of the season.

FA Cup final successes

Despite the heartache in the league, Arsenal did finally end their nine-year trophy drought with a 3-2 win over Hull City in the 2014 FA Cup Final.

They didn’t do it the easy way, having gone two goals down in the opening 10 minutes, Santi Cazorla’s free-kick before half-time gave them hope of a comeback.

Koscielny once again showed his goalscoring abilities in a big match, scrambling in the equaliser with 20 minutes remaining, before Aaron Ramsey’s winner in extra-time sealed Arsenal’s victory.

Further success followed in 2015, as Koscielny played the entire 90 minutes of the 4-0 win over Aston Villa in the FA Cup final.

With Mertesacker getting older, he was no longer guaranteed a starting position at the club, especially following the arrival of Gabriel Paulista in January 2015 from Villarreal.

Club captain Mikel Arteta didn’t feature regularly either in the 2015-16 campaign and Koscielny was sometimes handed the captain’s armband in the absence of Arteta and Mertesacker.

Koscielny would again be a regular in the Arsenal defence in the 2016-17 campaign as the Gunners finished outside the top four for the first time in the Wenger era.

Another FA Cup win did soften the blow a little bit, as Arsenal beat Chelsea 2-1 at Wembley in the final to secure further silverware for the club.

Koscielny played no part in the 2017 final, however, after he received a red card in Arsenal’s last league game of the season against Everton, which ruled him out of the final.

Injury heartache

In May 2018, the Frenchman suffered an Achilles injury in the second leg of Arsenal’s Europa League semi-final against Atletico Madrid.

The injury would rule Koscielny out for six months and meant he would miss France’s World Cup success in Russia that year.

Mertesacker retired in 2018 after seven years at Arsenal and Koscielny was appointed club captain during the summer.

Koscielny returned to first-team action in December 2018, playing 72 minutes in Arsenal’s 1-0 win over Qarabag in the Europa League group stages. 

He would go on to make 29 appearances in the 2018-19 season as Unai Emery used him frequently following his return from injury.

Koscielny’s last appearance for Arsenal proved to be the 2019 Europa League final that saw Arsenal lose 4-1 to Chelsea in Baku.

As a result of Arsenal’s defeat in the final, the club missed out on Champions League football for the third year in a row.

End of an era at Arsenal

The French defender refused to join his team-mates for the pre-season tour of the USA in an attempt to force through a move back to France.

Koscielny was unhappy with how his playing schedule had been managed since his return from injury and had concerns over the direction that Arsenal were heading in.

A few weeks later, Koscielny joined Bordeaux in a deal believed to be worth £4.6m.

After signing for the Ligue 1 side, the defender upset Arsenal fans with a controversial shirt swap video posted on social media to accompany the announcement of the transfer.

A year after the transfer went through, Koscielny spoke to the French media about the video and offered his apologies to fans.

He said: ‘I had nine incredible years there, lots of memories with this club.

‘I know that my announcement video at Bordeaux caused a bit of a stir, I want to apologise to the fans for that.

‘I didn’t expect it to affect them in the way that it did.’

It was a bitter end to an otherwise very successful nine years at the club, which saw the Frenchman make 353 appearances for the Gunners, scoring 27 goals.

Koscielny left Bordeaux in January 2022 after making 65 appearances for the club and he retired from football two months later.