Laurent Koscielny

Full name	Laurent Koscielny
Date of birth	10 September 1985 (1985-09-10) (age 25)
Place of birth	Tulle, France
Height	1.87 m (6 ft 1 1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Centre back

Laurent Koscielny (born 10 September 1985 in Tulle, France) is a French footballer who plays as a defender for Arsenal in the Premier League

Career

En Avant de Guingamp

Koscielny began his career at En Avant de Guingamp, playing mainly as a Right-back.

Tours FC

In 2007, Koscielny joined Tours FC. Koscielny decided that he wanted a chance at centre back. During the 2008–09 season, Koscielny made 34 appearances, scoring 5 goals from defence. He was named in the best XI for Ligue 2 after the 2008–09 season.

Lorient

On 16 June 2009, Ligue 1 side FC Lorient signed Koscielny on a four-year contract for around 1.7 million euros. Over one season at the club, he scored 3 goals in 35 appearances. He scored against Bordeaux 11 minutes into the match. However, he received a red card 15 minutes later for a foul in the penalty area against Marouane Chamakh, who he is now teammates with at Arsenal FC.

Arsenal

During the summer transfer window of 2010 reports began to emerge in late June that a deal had been reached to bring Koscielny to English club Arsenal for a reported sum of £8.45 million.^[1] French daily Ouest-France reported on 5 July 2010 that Koscielny was participating in training with Arsenal's reserve and youth teams, pending the official announcement of his transfer.^[2] Arsenal confirmed the signing on 7 July 2010 and Koscielny was handed the club's No. 6 shirt, previously worn by Phillipe Senderos, who moved to Fulham earlier in the summer. Wenger explained he bought Koscienly due to the fact he added height to the team and Arsenal were low on centre backs.^[3] Koscielny made his debut against Barnet in a pre-season friendly in July 2010. One month later in his competitive debut against Liverpool at Anfield, he was sent off in the 94th minute for a second bookable offence. Both of his yellow cards were shown beyond 90 minutes. The game ended in a 1–1 draw with both teams having debut players sent off.^[4] He scored his first goal for Arsenal on 11 September 2010, in a 4–1 win against Bolton.^[5]
Koscielny made his debut in European competition on 15 September 2010, when he partnered Sebastien Squillaci in a 6–0 win over SC Braga at Emirates Stadium. Koscielny was praised for performances against Sunderland and made a brilliant tackle against Tottenham to stop Aaron Lennon from scoring during their Carling Cup tie. On 27 October he blocked a shot off the line and provided an assist to Theo Walcott. Koscielny was given a straight red card in Arsenal's 0–1 loss at home to Newcastle United on 7 November 2010. This was his second sending off of the season. On 4 December, Koscielny had a head to head collision with Sebastian Squillaci; he suffered concussion and had to sit out 3 weeks of football. Arsenal website confirmed Koscielny had passed fit for the Champions League match against Partizan Belgrade on 8 December 2010 making an immediate recovery and was used in the next match. On 25 January 2011, Koscielny scored the 2nd goal in the 3–0 win over Ipswich Town in the Carling Cup semi-final second leg win at the Emirates Stadium. His third goal of the season came as the winner in a 2-1 turn around victory over Everton with a bullet header in the dying minutes of a league clash at the Emirates.
Koscielny had arguably the greatest performance to date in an Arsenal-shirt against FC Barcelona in the first leg of the round of 16 Champions League-match. The match ended in a 2-1 home win for Arsenal. Koscielny's performances were applauded and praised in many media reports of the game. Arsenal-legend and former defender, Martin Keown, said his performance was "impressive" and "magnificent throughout".^[6].

International career

Koscielny was called up to the French National team on 4 February 2011. Previous to his call up for France Koscielny was also eligible to play for Poland and initially considered applying for Polish citizenship.^[7] As of August 2010, he had not submitted an application and cancelled a meeting with Franciszek Smuda in Warsaw on August 7. He declared that his priority is to play for the French national team.^[8]
Koscielny was called up to the French National Team on 3 February 2011, for the team's friendly versus Brazil on 9 February 2011.^[