Arsenal stars' Arsene Wenger charm offensive continues as Laurent Koscielny toasts manager's longevity

1/23
James Benge18 January 2017

Laurent Koscielny has become the latest Arsenal player to pay tribute to Arsene Wenger as the Gunners boss weighs up whether to sign a new contract.

The 67-year-old’s deal at Arsenal is due to expire at the end of the season and he has remained cagey when questioned as to whether he will extend his 20 year spell at the Emirates.

Arsenal players have made it abundantly clear that they want Wenger to remain at the Emirates helm, Mesut Ozil claiming his contract negotiations were tied to the future of his manager and Olivier Giroud saying that “everyone” at the club wants him to sign a new deal.

Vice-captain Koscielny extended his contract at the Emirates last week and he paid tribute to the longevity of a manager whose influence he feels goes beyond the football pitch.

“You may say that we haven’t won the title for a long time, but he has not just built players, he’s built men too,” Koscielny told Arsenal Player.

“Every player who has played for Arsenal has grown here and has become a man. It’s a big number [of players]. For me and the others, it’s a good opportunity to be with him and learn from him.

“He’s passionate about football. He loves football and he loves to watch his team play well with the ball. That’s why he’s here again after 20 years.

“Along with a lot of people, he’s helped this club grow with a new stadium, a new training ground, and he built the platform for us to compete for the Premier League and Champions League every year.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in