Koscielny announces International retirement

CAIRO – 16 October 2018: France’s national team captain Laurent Koscielny put an end to his career with the French national team and blamed the national team manager, Didier Deschamps, for his decision.

“Deschamps called me once for my birthday in September. Otherwise, Lots of people disappointed me. Not only the coach," Koscielny said on Monday.

The player suffered a serious injury at the final stage of the last season that forced him to miss France’s campaign at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

The Captain added, “When you are in good form, you have lots of friends. When you are injured, after a certain period of time, you are forgotten about.”

Koscielny has been a key player at France national team since his debut in 2011, and he has participated with the team in two UEFA EURO competitions and the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

He continued, “I think I gave the France team what I could. I have a new state of mind; there will be the Laurent before and the Laurent after injury. I want to continue to Arsenal, and I want to return quickly. I want to fight."

Koscielny’s last participation with France’s team was on March at a friendly game against Russia.