Arsenal captain Laurent Koscielny has refused to travel on the club’s pre-season tour of the United States in order to engineer a move back to France.
The Gunners are due to depart for the States and Unai Emery’s side have announced their club captain has refused to join the traveling party.
Koscielny has entered the final 12 months of his existing Arsenal contract and wants the club to mutually terminate his deal in order to secure a move to his native France.
Arsenal have so far refused Koscielny’s request and the veteran centre-back has decided to take matters into his own hands, to the disappointment of the Premier League outfit.
“Laurent Koscielny has refused to travel to the US for our pre-season tour,” a statement read on the club’s official website. “We are very disappointed by Laurent’s actions, which are against our clear instructions.”
The 33-year-old has a number of offers on the table from France, including Bordeaux, but Arsenal are yet to receive any bids this summer.
Arsenal are on the brink of signing Saint-Etienne defender William Saliba but will not have him available until the 2019/20 campaign.
Losing Koscielny for nothing is not an option for Arsenal, as they would have to find a replacement and are already working off a restricted budget.
It has even been reported Koscielny, who missed more than seven months with an Achilles injury in 2018, could buy out the remainder of his contract in order to secure a long-term deal in France.
Arsenal actually had a superior win ratio in the Premier League last season when Koscielny did not start (60%) compared to when he did feature from the off (46.2%).
