OPINION
So, Laurent Koscielny finally got his way after going on strike at Arsenal to force through a move to Bordeaux.
He’s been a model professional at Arsenal so we fully expected him to pen a heartfelt letter to supporters. Instead, we got a petty final dig at his former club in his Bordeaux welcome video.
Koscielny is shown in an Arsenal kit before he takes that off and discards it to show a Bordeaux kit underneath, with a voiceover that says, “3… 2… 1… ignition sequence starts”.
We’re presuming that Koscielny isn’t a stupid man, so he’ll know what Arsenal fans will make of this. So why do it?
The defender has been at Arsenal for nine years and it’s been by far the defining club of his career.
Way to throw your own legacy down the pan.
Nouveau joueur, nouveau maillot, retrouvez-le dès maintenant ici ? https://t.co/6Jb2BRKbIo pic.twitter.com/eCfsGaSUYS
— FC Girondins de Bordeaux (@girondins) August 6, 2019
Arsenal fans let him know in no uncertain terms how they felt, which was presumably the whole idea. And other fans, including those from rivals Tottenham were loving it.
https://twitter.com/HolyHolding/status/1158788809301123073
Picked Kos up from nothing. Stuck by him when he was injured. Supported him through his pain. This is how he repays us. For cheap internet clout. Kos is in the same trash heap as Van Persie after that celebration.
— D. (@Outtheboxx) August 7, 2019
These two tweets sum up how Arsenal fans feel about the whole thing. And Koscielny should note the reactions from Tottenham fans, like this one.
Imagine your club captain doing this ????
— Jake ??????? (@THFCJakee) August 6, 2019
It’s not just the fans, though. Ian Wright replied on his personal Twitter account saying, “This hurts. The level of disrespect… you should be ashamed for the way you’ve left the club after 9 years.”
This hurts. The level of disrespect ?? You should be ashamed for the way you've left the club after 9 years! Got what you wanted and still trying to have a dig ?????? Hope it's worth it in the long run. https://t.co/7ShuTVss2u
— Ian Wright (@IanWright0) August 6, 2019
Life’s too short for bitterness and grudges. Especially for a footballer who was on £90k-a-week at Arsenal [Spotrac]. You can put it down as a joke gone wrong, but everyone involved should have known better.
As for Koscielny, if he wants to burn bridges on nine years of his life, the most successful he’ll have in his career, that’s a choice he’ll have to live with. An apology won’t even be enough for most Arsenal fans now.
Carl Jenkinson showed him how it should be done later on Wednesday after he secured a move to Nottingham Forest.
This is a message that is hard to write so I’m going to keep it short. I’m leaving Arsenal in pursuit of a new challenge and a fresh start, and ultimately to play regular football again. I can’t really put into… https://t.co/brfptpLIhk
— Carl Jenkinson (@carljenkinson) August 7, 2019