Arsenal’s shock as Koscielny snubs tour

LAURENT Koscielny’s Arsenal career is heading for a bitter end after he sensationally went on strike. Club captain Koscielny rocked the Gunners by refusing to board the plane for their pre- season tour yesterday in response to being denied a free transfer.

The 33-year-old centre back has received an offer from Bordeaux and wants to return to France.

He still has a year left on his £120,000-a-week contract and wanted Arsenal to let him go on a free transfer as reward for his nine years of service.

But Arsenal rejected his request. While they acknowledge his service they have no intention of tearing up his deal and letting him leave for nothing.

Koscielny reacted angrily and decided to make himself unavailable for the four-game trip to the United States.

The situation has been building up behind the scenes for some time. Contract talks have been going on since the end of last season. Arsenal had discussed offering Koscielny terms for at least one more year and up to two, despite his age and chequered injury history.

As a result, the new contract included reduced basic wages but with performance-related incentives.

Arsenal chiefs feared the situation was escalating when Koscielny returned from his summer break last Friday and his unhappiness was clear.

He is understood to have been putting significant pressure on

the club in a bid to get his wish, including making it known he was ready to boycott the tour.

This week one source described the situation as a ‘bomb waiting to explode’.

That duly happened yesterday when he turned up for training at Arsenal’s London Colney HQ and told the club he was not getting on the LA-bound plane which left Stanstead at 12.30pm with the rest of Unai Emery’s squad.

Koscielny is now facing a fine and being stripped of the captaincy for his actions. He will train with the Under 23s while the first team are in the States.

Koscielny’s relationship with supporters now looks broken beyond repair after they reacted with fury to his decision.

Arsenal’s anger was also made clear when they took the unusual step of releasing a statement confirming Koscielny’s refusal to travel and stating that they are ‘disappointed by Laurent’s actions, which are against our clear instructions’.

Emery has a lack of senior centre backs. Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Shkodran Mustafi, who Arsenal are keen to move on, are his only others.

Arsenal need to land reinforcements this summer. French youngster William Saliba is set to join in a £27million deal, but will then be loaned back to St Etienne.