Laurent Koscielny

Laurent Koscielny is a professional footballer from France. He was born on the 10th of September, 1985 in Tulle. Koscielny is a center back who is currently the vice-captain of the English Premier League team Arsenal.

Background

The Frenchman began his career with Guingamp in 2004 which has produced players like Didier Drogba and Florent Malouda. Koscielny played as a fullback for Guingamp in most of the matches.However, he felt that center back was his forte and this made him join Tours FC to take a chance at center back.

In his debut season with Tours FC in 2007, Koscielny showed remarkable progress and played a major role in his team’s promotion to Ligue 1. He was also named in the best XI of the season.

The center back continued his good form with Lorient FC in 2009 where he was regarded as one of the best players in his position. He was developing reputation as a clever and an agile defender. His achievements and footballing potential attracted Arsenal, ultimately moving to the Premier League side for a fee of £8.45 million the following season.

Debut

Laurent Koscielny had the opportunity to represent Poland but decided to ply his trade with France. He made his first appearance for France on the 9th of February, 2011 in a friendly match against United States. Koscielny played the entire game and his side sealed a 1-0 victory. On the 4th of June, 2016, Koscielny scored his first international goal in a friendly match against Scotland.

Rise to Glory

Koscielny had a great debut season with Arsenal. He was constantly making great tackles and preventing the opposition from penetrating their back line. In 2011, Koscielny had one of his best performances till date that saw Arsenal beat Barcelona 2-1 in the round of 16 Champions League tie.

The Frenchman was a great asset to the team as apart from acting as a defender, he had a great goal scoring ability. Till date, Koscielny has scored 24 goals for Arsenal. He is the highest scoring defender for Arsenal in the history of EPL. He is regarded as one of the most important players for Arsenal in the past seven years.

Koscielny has won the FA Cup with Arsenal in 2014, 2015 and 2017. He has also won the FA Community Shield in 2014, 2015 and 2017. The center back has made a major contribution in his team’s success in the FA Cup over the years.

Low Points

Koscielny has got more than thirty yellow cards and as many as five red cards. This has forced him out of a few crucial encounters and has affected the team’s performance. He has missed more games due to suspension and not because of injury.

The center back must work on preventing harsh tackles so as to represent Arsenal in more and more games and increase their chances of winning more trophies.

The Frenchman is yet to win the Premier League with Arsenal. Although he has won six titles at Arsenal, the coveted Premier League title has eluded him.