Laurent Koscielny considered summer Arsenal exit

The agent of Laurent Koscielny has confirmed that the centre-back could have pursued a fresh challenge from Arsenal, had it not been for his long-term Achilles injury.

The France international suffered the serious problem during the second leg of the Europa League semi-final versus Atletico Madrid and this witnessed him miss out on a World Cup winners' medal versus France.

Since then, he has returned to the Gunners training ground to step up his rehabilitation but his agent has now revealed that he may have followed ex-manager Arsene Wenger through the Emirates exit door.

Speaking to France Football, agent Stephane Courbis said: "At that time, Laurent was playing what might have been his final matches with Arsenal. Laurent started to consider a possible move away from Arsenal at the same time as Arsene."

Koscienly was initially expected to return to individual training in the month of October but he has managed to report ahead of schedule which should only increase his chances of returning to first-team action.

He is presently contracted to the north London club until the summer of 2020 and was recently made the permanent captain of the team under new boss Unai Emery.