L’Equipe interviews Laurent Koscielny

Laurent Koscielny has been one of the more reserved Arsenal players in his time with the club which makes this wide-ranging interview with L’Equipe fantastic. He was extremely candid about a number of topics. The whole thing was great, but here are some of the choicest bits:

On what kind of captain he is:

I do not mouth off, that is for sure. I am not a great orator, I do not like long speeches. It is not in my nature. But, for me, that is not the role of the captain. The captain, is a player who must act as an example on the pitch, who needs to bring his teammates onto the right path to win. I try to do what I know to do the best that I can.

On why he decided not to go to a more established club (RC Lens) early in his career:

Lens, is a great club in terms of developing youth but, due to my nature, it would have been too big a club for me. I would not have enjoyed myself there. I saw myself fitting better at Guingamp…

On Arsene Wenger signing him as a relatively unknown prospect:

I am in the French national team and at Arsenal thanks to the boss. It was he who brought me here. It was he who had the balls to buy me from Lorient when I was nobody. It was my first year in Ligue 1, at an average club in Ligue 1. He took a punt on me for a club like Arsenal which is one of the biggest 10 clubs in Europe.

As far as Wenger signings go, Koscielny is one of the all-time greats. Plucked from obscurity to becoming one of the first names on the team sheet. This rare interview is great stuff from the captain and well worth a read, especially if you want to find out which Spurs player Koscielny is neighbors with, if he prefers London or Paris, and where he sees himself retiring.