Arsenal must keep Laurent Koscielny away from Bayern Munich

Six months ago, the sentence ‘Bayern Munich want to strengthen their central defence by signing Laurent Koscielny from Arsenal’ would have rightly been laughed at. But now, it looks a real possibility. For the last three months of the season, Koscielny was the best defender in the Premier League. He came into the team at the Allianz against Bayern, and his partnership with Per Mertesacker immediately looked a good match as they were the only defensive unit to stop Bayern from scoring in Europe all season. After that, he grew in presence, and most importantly, in consistency. Koscielny has always looked like a quality player but had looked untrustworthy, just as likely to make a huge error as to clear one off the line. For the last few months though, he has eradicated that compulsion and has been rock solid.

The problem, if it is one, for Arsenal, is that this world class form has brought him to the attention of European champions and dynasty in the making, Bayern Munich. The one weakness in the Bayern side is the central defence and Koscielny’s performance levels have moved him right up the list. Bayern managed to win the Champions League with Jerome Boateng in central defence as partner to Dante, after the injury to Holger Badstuber. However, in the long term, you would have to wonder if any combination of those gives Bayern a firm enough footing to win the Champions League time and again, as is their aim. They want to sign a top class centre back and Koscielny is the best option they could realistically get.

Of all the top centre backs in the world right now, most of them are at clubs that Bayern couldn’t really poach from. Chiellini is at Juventus, Thiago Silva is at PSG, Ramos is at Real Madrid, Hummels is at Borussia Dortmund. Short of paying a boat load of money, they are all off limits, even to the European champions. Koscielny, however, might not be.

Arsenal have sold a star man in each of the last four seasons and right now Koscielny is their most salable asset, with the possible exceptions of Cazorla and Walcott. At 27, he is reaching his peak. His performance level has been on an upward trajectory. He is a solid passer of the ball, quick, strong, and very tough. If he can completely eliminate bad errors from his game, he’d be right up in the elite company listed above. This is why Bayern want him; he fits their new Guardiola led passing system perfectly. And because Arsenal have this history of selling players, they will feel they can get him.

The obstacle in Bayern’s way is that Arsenal are openly looking to spend money this season; they have a different mindset. The club has been planning for this summer for all of those four years of player sales. They are, with Bayern, the best placed club to take advantage of the new Financial Fair Play regulations. If they are looking at spending £25m on Jovetic or £30m on Rooney, would they really sell Koscielny for £15m or so? It’s not just the money, it’s the on field loss. Wenger felt he had replaced Fabregas with Arteta, Nasri with Cazorla. But how would he replace Koscielny? He and Mertesacker formed the second tightest central defensive unit in the Premier League last season. That is the kind of defensive security Arsenal have been dreaming of since the days of Sol Campbell.

Strangely for Arsenal, their defence is elite, the attack is not. If they are spending money to make the attack elite, they cannot afford to lose Koscielny and have to start over again on the defence. It is time to draw a line in the sand – no more player sales. Wenger has been loyal and very patient with Koscielny, waiting for him in to show the elite quality he did last season. They simply have to keep him.