Arsenal had the pleasure of announcing good news on three of the club’s important stars this morning. Arsene Wenger was seen shaking the hands of three Gunners today, whom had all just signed new contracts with the club.
Olivier Giroud, Laurent Koscielny and Francis Coquelin signed new ‘long term deals’ with Arsenal this morning, in a move that’ll surely please the Arsenal fans. The length of the ‘long term deals’, a phrase that Arsenal are very familiar with, remains undisclosed. However Koscielny did reveal on Twitter that his new Arsenal deal runs until 2020.
Koscielny is the oldest of the trio, at 31 years old and so he may have received a slightly shorter deal than the other duo. However if it’s anticipated that they all received the same three and a half year offer, then it’s very positive news for the Gunners.
Koscielny, Giroud and Coquelin have found themselves as important members of the squad and on some match days, they can even find themselves to be the spine of the team. Koscielny is arguably the leader of the defence, whilst there’s no doubt in Coquelin’s vocal ability and commitment in midfield. Until this season, Giroud was also the main man up front, leading the line alone. Alexis took his spot this season, but he is now starting to find his way back into the team these last few weeks with a number of goals over the festive period.
But which player is the most important for the Gunners?
Koscielny is no doubt Arsenal’s best defender. He’s been a loyal servant to the club, joining as an unknown prodigy and turning into one of Europe’s best centre backs. He’s coming up to seven years at Arsenal in which we’ve seen him grow and I think he’s vital to Arsenal success as a whole rather than just in defence. There is no doubting his talent, but of course we cannot hide the fact that his career in the top flight will most likely start to fall over the coming seasons. A three and a half year deal is likely to be the Frenchman’s last big contract in his professional career, so it’s important that he keeps up his quality in line to how much Arsenal value him.
Olivier Giroud has always received a mixed set of reviews from Arsenal fans. He was brought in to replace the heavy weight of missing RVP and Arsenal fans became disappointed he couldn’t replicate such form. Like Koscielny however, Giroud has grown into a class player for Arsenal and despite his inconsistencies, I think for the majority of the time you can rely on Giroud to have an impact on the game in one shape or form. We’ve already seen this season how he can turn a game on its head, even when he hasn’t been in the starting eleven. I think that’s been Giroud’s biggest downfall at Arsenal and its in no fault of his own. Giroud simply hasn’t been tested competitively enough at Arsenal over the years and so at times he’s become comfortable on putting in half the effort. Now that Alexis has shown he can deliver up top, Giroud has begun to step up his game and we are again seeing the striker that can be an important part of our success.
Lastly Francis Coquelin has had a bumpy journey with Arsenal over the years. The Frenchman has gone from the brink of leaving in a permanent deal, to being recalled from Charlton to play a major part in the Gunners season. Now he finds himself as a consistent regular in Gunners midfield that is very competitive for places. Le Coq has proven his ability and worth to Arsenal on a number of occasions since his break in the first team and his defensive duties in midfield have certainly seen us improve in terms of our defensive stability. Coquelin isn’t one of those players you’d consider to be irreplaceable, but you know that Arsenal would certainly miss him if he was to leave.
At the end of the day, all three players are important to this Arsenal team and I’m sure everyone is over the moon about their latest commitment to the club. However now it’s important that Arsene Wenger and co step up their efforts in getting the club’s main duo, Alexis and Ozil, to be seated in the same position putting pen to paper.
By AH
Koscielny
?? Super Lamp Post ⚽️
Like fine wine, he is improving with age.
I’m still waiting for him to score with his beard. ?
Amazes me how some players are not distracted enough during a season to sign a new deal, but some players have to wait until the close season? Really? Are we such mugs to believe that?
Of course not. The fact is the main two not only want top salaries, but also assurances and unfortunately I am not sure we can deliver? May be with atletico wanting alexis and real wanting ozil, perhaps we should accept griezmann and James in return and be done with it. A bit of extra cash would be nice to add an extra player or two, but if we got those two in return and may be isco would it be so bad?
Ozil back at Real, hahahaha. Truth being told is that Ozil is not in high demand and we all know why. Just look at who the managers are at the said top clubs. Sure, Alexis can play anywhere, true that but he will not be an automatic started everywhere (Real, Barca, Bayern, PSG – these clubs don’t give a fsck about who you are as they paid top buck for your services, you either shut up or go fsck yourself) like at Arsenal and obviously, China.
Koscielny