Bad news for both team and club, as captain Laurent Koscielny asks for his contract to be cancelled.
A club statement says: “Laurent Koscielny has refused to travel to the US for our pre-season tour.”
“We are very disappointed by Laurent’s actions, which are against our clear instructions. We hope to resolve this matter and will not be providing any further comment at this time.”
Symbolic that as a stalwart of the Wenger regime – it should come to this. Although Laurent has form in individualistic behaviour with some comments not conducive to French World Cup team harmony last year.
The French international wants to return to France amid interest from Rennes, Bordeaux and Lyon, and is considering buyout out his contract in an effort to force through a move.
Disciplinary proceedings against him are set to go-ahead with a prospective fine with the club captaincy now also in doubt.
The squad which flew from Stansted to the US today was: Leno, Martinez, Macey, Bellerin, Jenkinson, Chambers, Sokratis, Mustafi, Holding, Mavropanos, Medley, Monreal, Kolasinac, Thompson, Maitland-Niles, Willock, Xhaka, Burton, Olayinka, Mkhitaryan, Ozil, Nelson, Smith Rowe, Martinelli, Saka, Aubameyang, Lacazette, Nketiah, John-Jules
A few outlets report that two of these Calum Chambers and Carl Jenkinson are part of a makeweight, along with Mohammed Elneny to get the Zaha deal over the line. Would that make the squad too thin?
Another French player not on the plane is Matteo Guendouzi who is valued at €42.7m by the latest Soccerex 20 Under 21 report – the twelfth most valuable u-21 player in the European/World rankings.
The valuation takes into account personal attributes and on-pitch performances of players born on or after January 1, 1998. Other factors are market and media value perception and the current club’s average player sale value.
In local news, The Arsenal Tavern in Blackstock Road was boarded up and closed this week, but a spokesperson for landlord EI Publican Partnerships told the Gazette: “We would like to reassure the local community that we plan to reopen this pub as soon as possible with a new operator.”
In other news, Tottenham will host Arsenal on November 17 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, in the Women’s Super League – the latest derby to be moved to a club’s men’s ground.
And Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has showed off new psychedelic-looking Lamborghini worth quarter of a million. The Mail reports he now owns three different high-end models of Ferraris, two Audi R8s and an Aston Martin and a car collection worth over £2 million.