Former Arsenal captain removed from Bordeaux squad: Too many errors, too much money | OneFootball

Laurent Koscielny has been excluded from the Bordeaux first team squad as the Ligue 1 side look to identify the reasons behind their on-field problems.

Laurent Koscielny’s time at Arsenal came to an bad a end and it seems like the same fate has befallen him again at Bordeaux.

The 36-year-old will no longer be a Bordeaux first team player, with the club opting to exclude him due to too many individual errors on the pitch and a salary of €3m (after tax), which is deemed far too expensive for his return on the field.

The former Arsenal captain has played just 11 times for Bordeaux this season and his club have conceded 44 goals in Ligue 1.

Bordeaux are also expected to ‘exclude’ Paul Baysse and Mehdi Zerkane due to ‘poor behaviour’.

Koscielny is out of contract at the end of the season, after signing a three-year deal when he left Arsenal.

The centre-back tried to get the Gunners to let him go for free in the summer of 2019, claiming that’s what he was promised as he refused to go on pre-season tour.

In May last year, he was back to him.

September 2020

Koscielny finally gives apology for the way he left Arsenal

Laurent Koscielny gave Arsenal fans an apology for the way he left the club, over a year after he joined Bordeaux in controversial fashion.

Speaking to the media, Koscielny offered an apology to the Arsenal fans over the announcement video for his move to Bordeaux.

For those who somehow didn’t see it, the centre-back removed an Arsenal shirt to reveal a Bordeaux top underneath.

Many Arsenal fans took offence to this, suggesting it was disrespectful to the club he spent so many years with. Koscielny claims he didn’t see what was wrong with it at the time, but wants to apologise now.

“I had nine incredible years there, lots of memories with this club,” Koscielny said (via GFFN).

“I know that my announcement video at Bordeaux caused a bit of a stir, I want to apologise to the fans for that, I didn’t expect it to affect them in the way that it did.”

The announcement video was really the straw that broke the camel’s back, as Koscielny made PR mistake after mistake. Most notably, as Arsenal club captain, he refused to go on the pre-season tour to force a move.

He then pushed for Arsenal to let him go for free, even though his suitors clearly had the money to spend on him.

Bordeaux paid around £4.6m for the transfer, so it was completely unnecessary to ask for a free transfer.

Some will probably always hold a grudge against him for that summer.

But perhaps others will now accept his apology and remember the good times too.