Barcelona Target Arsenal Centre-Back Laurent Koscielny

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Both the Nou Camp side and Bayern Munich said to be monitoring the Emirates Stadium defender.

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Bayern Munich and Barcelona are both said to be interested in Arsenal defender Laurent Koscielny according to a report on ESPN.

The 27 year old Frenchman impressed greatly in the final months of the 2012/13 season, forming an excellent pairing with Per Mertesacker to become Arsene Wenger’s first choice central defensive partnership, with Thomas Vermaelen being left out for much of the tail end of the campaign.

This source rates Koscielny at £15m, a fee that would presumably not be out of both Bayern Munich and Barcelona’s reach, though it would appear that the Catalan club are in more urgent need of fresh defensive options given that incoming boss Gerardo Martino has just Gerard Pique and Carles Puyol to call upon as effective senior centre-backs in the La Liga side’s armoury.

Arsenal paid Lorient £8.45m for Koscielny in July 2010 and the French international is now arguably at the peak of his powers and certainly not a player Arsene Wenger would be willing to lose this summer.

Koscielny has made a total of 119 appearances for the Gunners.


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