How much of a fee are you going to get for a 33 year old CB coming off a very serious injury though ?
Who cares?
But at this stage there is no point. Itās not like anyone will sign an injured player anyway. I think we got value out of persisting with RVP and Rosicky through their injuries. Others didnāt work out
Well you have to work out if youāre are getting nothing, are you better of keeping Kos as defensive cover for a year ? Or do you actually think weāre going to sign someone better ? If we sign someone better as defensive cover then itās fair enough.
Getting a transfer fee really is of no relevance to this decision. Heās told him heās not part of the plans (for whatever reasons) and Kos can take that info and decide what he wants to do with it. Go somewhere else and play (absolutely some team will give us a few quid for him) or stick around drawing his wages.
Think he will go back to France.
I just wish you guys talk about Koscielny with respect. He is one of very few players who contributed during banter era
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Letās assume that the decision is not getting made in a vacuum and those things have in fact entered the equation.
Not sure anyone has disrespected him tbh.
100% Kos has arguably been the clubs best contributor in the last decade in terms of consistency, so he deserves nothing but respect. If Emery deems Kos not good enough for defensive cover then I hope like hell heās smart enough to realise Mustafi isnāt anywhere good enough to be a starter.
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I donāt think he was ever a truly top tier centre back and thatās probably because I feel he lacked the concentration to be truly elite. His decision making was naĆÆve at times.
But heās been a fine servant and in my opinion heās been probably Wengerās best defensive signing along with Kolo and Sol.
There were times where I genuinely felt like he was knocking on the door of being an elite centre back and I think if he had better coaching he may well have made it.
All in all though, heās been an excellent servant to the club but at his advancing age and his recent injury itās only right the club moves on from him.
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For me he has been top tier especially as he was great for us despite playing in no system and being asked to go out every game and just play his natural game. All that time he was playing in an era were we lacked any kind of defensive nous and cohesion, our so called ātacticsā werenāt worth shit.
Itās a credit to him that despite that he still performed as well as he did season to season. A good deal of other top tier CBās may well have flopped under Wenger.
Under a better manager with some thorough tactical coaching just like most of our other players he would have been even better, will always have love for Kos and like you said he has been one hell of a signing. Gutted for him that he never got that WC medal.
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I hear you. I think Kos was on par with any defender in the Premier League over the last 5 seasons. But Iām of the opinion that the quality of defending in general has declined spectacularly anyway.
Even in Italy, who have always boasted world class defenders Iād only count Chiellini and Barzagli as the two truly elite CBs since the decline of Nesta and Cannavaro. And even they are many levels above anything Italy has produced since.
I think if I judge Kos fairly and judge him by the standard of defending in Europe at the moment, heād definitely be in that bracket. But in general I can only really think of peak Thiago Silva (his peak Milan days with Nesta), Kompany (before injuries really beat his body up and turned him into a borderline disaster for a few seasons) and Hummels (before he slowed down even more) as being the other defenders who Iād put in that elite category.
Defending in general though has declined. The late 90s and early 00s had a wealth of incredible defenders. You had Nesta, Ayala, Cannavaro, Stam, Maldini, Campbell, Samuel, Lucio, Puyol, Kohler, Couto, Thuram, Hierro.
The art of defending isnāt dying, but what coaches look for in defenders is and that means the quality of defending is compromised to make way for defenders who are comfortable with the ball at their feet.
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He has been our best CB since we moved to the Emirates and stood out compared with some of the poor defenders he has played alongside, so he will be difficult to replace.
Saying that, it is the right decision to let him go.
Emery and whoever else makes these decisions, has done a good job in the last season, identifying persistently injured and under performing players and then moving them on.
Walcott, Rosicky, Wilshere, Cazorla, Kos etc, simply were persistently injured which is no good for a top four club, so itās right that they should go and their wages spent on players that are going to take us up a level.
I hope he enjoys the rest of his career at the Aston Villa, the retirement home for old footballers.
Great post!
All top defenders today probably have the ability to reach a level near Nesta etc but they are asked to do different things now. In that respect Guardiola has definitely changed what modern coaches looks for in defenders, which is in essence high flying full backs and the defensive unit being much more like the first line of attack. I think itās also influenced by a changing football audience and the recen need for āgoalfestsā from tv companies. The art of a 0-0/tightly fought game between top teams is being eroded somewhat.
I donāt want to turn it into a Mourinho/Guardiola debate as itās probably clear where my alligence will be, but great tactical coaches of the past would probably be hounded by the media for what were successful tactics and in creating defenders who job is to primarily defend 
I guess Juventus perhaps have the ability to change the debate somewhat, which is why a Juventus vs City champions league tie would be fascinating this season.
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Precisely this. But I think football works in cycles and eventually defenders with amazing reading of the game and pin point tackles and interceptions will come back into fashion at some point. Teams will eventually find ways to exploit ball playing defenders on a more grander scale and make them temporarily obsolete. That is until the next manager comes around with a modified outlook on how to use ball playing defenders.
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Remember what Rio said about him in 2015 
I like koz but people always said he made Per look good but I always felt it was the other way around. Yes he covered Perās lack of pace but Per concealed those other glaring flaws in kozās game that others have touched on.
Anyway he was a good- often great-player for us and a hugely likeable figure, unfortunately during his time here he bamboozled us out of two trophies but ironically I feel that if we had a better, more conscientious manager such as Emery at the helm you could have won major honours with Koz in the team.
Itās the right move and hopefully heāll get a nice send off, unlike Mustafi who we should just drop off at the local dog shelter.
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Iām not sure they would take him.
Even dog shelters have standards.
Does he walk back into the team? He was finished last season. Letās see if he can do better under Unai. Heāll be better than Mustafi anyway
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If it means Mustafi stops playing he can hobble back into the team as far as Iām concerned
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