Laurent Koscielny has likened his career to former Arsenal defender, Kolo Toure, claiming that no one knew who he was when he first came to north London.

To be fair, he’s absolutely right.

I remember when we signed Kos from Lorient in 2010. He was only 24, skinny and no one had ever heard of him. Most Gooners (probably me included) rolled our eyes at another unknown French signing. Typical Wenger etc etc.

How wrong we were.

“The Invincibles were amazing for Arsenal,” the 30-year-old said to Arsenal Player.

“They had an amazing season and there are a lot of French, like Thierry Henry, Robert Pires, Patrick Vieira and some good centre backs like Kolo Toure in there.

“I have the same career like him. He came here, nobody knew him and he became a very good centre back for the Arsenal and he had an amazing career in England.

“He is strong, he likes duels, aerial duels or on the floor, one against ones and he did a very good job for Arsenal.”

Kos has gone on o become one of, if not the best centre-back in the League. The France international is one of those players who, when they get injured, send the Goonerverse goes into complete meltdown. He’s – presumably – one of the first names on the team sheet and when he isn’t, we suffer.

It’s amazing how far he’s come during his six years at Arsenal and proof that players don’t have to be cost the price of a small country to be amazing.