Ligue 1: Laurent Koscielny and Bordeaux, it’s over

This time, Laurent Koscielny’s Gironde adventure is over. Two and a half years after his arrival with great fanfare in Bordeaux, the former French international (51 caps) is preparing to leave the club through the back door. The defender and the Girondins have agreed to terminate the contract which bound them until the end of the season. This could even have extended until 2024 if the player had wanted to activate his two additional years (at 5 million euros).

“It is recorded that Laurent will not finish the season with us and that he will leave the club on January 31”, announced the president of the Girondins Gérard Lopez in the columns of Sud Ouest on January 12. Since the beginning of the year, the Corrézien was already excluded from the professional group, the club accusing him of a lack of investment and disappointing performances.

According to L’Équipe, Koscielny should bounce back to Lorient, a club where he discovered Ligue 1 between 2009 and 2010. For its part, Bordeaux could benefit from this payroll reduction (the emoluments of the former Arsenal captain and Blues amounted to 300,000 euros gross per month) to position themselves on Phil Jones, according to journalist specializing in the transfer window Fabrizio Romano. The club are reportedly considering bringing the English international from Manchester United on loan, as the player was relegated to the Red Devils bench by Ralf Rangnick.