nationalcaps birth_date currentclub years youthyears caps goals image_size nationalyears image name caption fullname birth_place nationalteam height clubnumber nationalgoals youthclubs clubs position article_title
23 10 september 1985 arsenal 1993 1998 -- 2002 -- 1995 1995 -- 1997 1997 -- 1998 1993 1998 -- 2002 2002 -- 2003 2003 -- 2004 -- 1995 1995 -- 1997 1997 -- 1998 41 67 35 150 0 6 3 11 200 2011 -- 1 laurent koscielny 2015.jpg laurent koscielny koscielny playing for arsenal in 2015 laurent koscielny tulle , france france 1.86 6 0 tulle corrèze brive tulle corrèze brive limoges guingamp tulle corrèze brive tulle corrèze brive centre back laurent koscielny

laurent koscielny

laurent koscielny -lrb- ; born 10 september 1985 -rrb- is a french footballer who plays as a defender for arsenal and the french national team .
he primarily plays as a centre back but he can also play as a right back , a position where he started his career .
he has been described as an aggressive , strong , quick and ball-playing defender .
koscielny was born in the city of tulle and began his football career playing for a host of amateur and youth clubs such as brive , tulle corrèze and limoges .
in 2003 he moved to guingamp , where he made his professional debut the following year .
koscielny joined tours for an undisclosed fee to play in the third tier of the french league in 2007 and enjoyed promotion with his new side before being named in the ligue 2 team of the season the following campaign .
in 2009 , newly promoted ligue 1 side lorient signed koscielny for around $ 1.7 million , and his performances caught the eye of arsenal manager arsène wenger , who signed him in 2010 .
arsenal fans voted laurent koscielny as wenger 's most effective signing of 2010 -- 11 following an impressive debut campaign .
koscielny was called up to the french national team on 4 february 2011 and represented the country at uefa euro 2012 and the 2014 fifa world cup .
prior to his call-up for france , he was also eligible to play for poland , as a result of his family roots .
