Perry Groves believes Laurent Koscielny’s recent antics by not travelling on Arsenal’s pre-season tour should lead to him never playing for the club again.
While that may be the Frenchman’s motives in the first place (with reports in France linking him with a Ligue 1 switch), the former winger thinks there should be no way back for the defender – although the club may be forced to keep him on the books with the current lack of replacements in his position:
“My captain, my a**e.” ????
“For him to try and force a move away is a disgrace. He’s in a privileged position.”
“They should fine him two weeks wages and and strip him of the captaincy.”
Perry Groves slams Laurent Koscielny for trying to force a move from Arsenal. pic.twitter.com/606DDh9oFB
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) July 12, 2019
Speaking on TalkSPORT, ex-Gunner Groves was appalled by Koscielny’s behaviour, saying: “For him to try and force a move away from Arsenal Football Club is an absolute disgrace.
“They should fine him two weeks’ wages, they should issue a statement saying ‘you are stripped of the captaincy’.
“It would be great if [it] could say ‘you’ll never play for this club again’, but Arsenal are not in that position because they haven’t got enough players.”
The nub of the matter appears to be the way in which Koscielny has gone about trying to leave the club. It’s surely fine for a player to be of the opinion that a move would benefit them the most – but to disrespect his club and teammates through his actions – especially as captain – has left the centre-back in a position where he has cut his ties with his existing club without any guarantee that a move will be granted.
That’s what makes Koscielny’s behaviour so baffling. Now the club has been so open in stating the situation at hand, the defender may be thinking his risk in outlining his personal stance to his club in this way could be about to backfire – and Perry Groves may very well get his wish.
