On August 6th 2019, Laurent Koscielny, after spending nine years at Arsenal, decided it was time to return to his home country.
Leaving it in 2010 when swapping Lorient for the Gunners, the centre-back never thought he’d become such an important player in Arsène Wenger’s plans, let alone the club’s captain.
In the end, he made 353 appearances for the Premier League, scoring 27 goals and assisting another five along the way, leaving the club on a relative high as the club finished fifth in the table but lost the Europa League final.
Bordeaux paid close to £5m for the veteran’s services, but it wasn’t a forced exit, as the defender revealed it was his decision to leave the London side, doing so for one very specific reason.
He told France Football: “I could have stayed at Arsenal, still be captain and play the top spot in the Premier League, but I reached an age where I need to enjoy myself as much as possible. It was one of the reasons why I decided to return to France and I don’t regret it one bit.
“I still have that desire. I show my professionalism every day, my desire to progress, to share my experience with the young players, the staff, to be able to leave in one, two, three or four years having enjoyed myself during the last few years on pitch”.
Asked why he couldn’t have done that in England, Koscielny explains he’d rather move to Bordeaux than finish at the highest level plagued with injuries ‘because his body can’t play every three days’.
Not only that, but his affiliation to the Emirates was too big.
He added: “All I told my agents was that I wanted to return to France. I didn’t want to play for another club in England, it was impossible. I lived through too much with Arsenal. I didn’t want an exotic league either. My wife doesn’t like planes, that was clear. We wanted France and we got what we wanted. It was a football choice, a personal choice and a family choice”.
