About a month ago, we relayed a story from Yahoo! France claiming that Laurent Koscielny would be open to a move to Marseille in the summer.
The basis of the report was that a member of the Arsenal defender was quoted as saying ‘Why not?’ when asked about a move to the south of France, but we didn’t entirely believe it, mostly because of the €20m price tag slapped on the 30-year-old.
However, the rumour refuses to disappear, and the Koscielny to Marseille train has once again left the station for another round-trip, with Le10 Sport dedicating over a page to the situation in their monthly magazine.
According to the French outlet, the Ligue 1 side, flush with cash thanks to their new owner, have targeted the Arsenal centre-back to be the ‘leader’ in their future defence, as Rudi Garcia tries to solve one of the biggest problems in his squad.
Contact between Marseille and the player’s entourage are said to have already taken place, with Koscielny leaving the door open regarding a potential move after the French club’s efforts to convince him their project is worth joining.
Despite these positive signs, Le10 Sport explain one obstacle stands in everyone’s way, and that is Arsène Wenger.
The French defender is very attached to his current manager, and were he to stay, remaining at the Emirates would be a priority.
However, if he were to leave, Marseille’s chances of signing Koscielny would ‘shoot up’.
It’s also worth pointing out that, as things stand, both clubs are in a position to qualify for the same European competition: the Europa League.
After the Yahoo! France article, we said we’d file the story in the ‘doubtful’ drawer of our transfer rumour cabinet, and this hasn’t really changed anything, except maybe that a second source is reporting it.
There are still so many variables in this one that it’s not worth wasting too much time over… for now.
