Laurent Koscielny's Arsenal exit may have left a bitter taste in the mouths of the Gunners.
Well, it seems that the Bordeaux camp aren't exactly thrilled either.
Ex-Bordeaux scout Laurent Calippe recently left his role with the Ligue 1 side and gave a revealing interview to Get French Football News about why he believes his former employers made a mistake in signing the defender.
He said: "It’s not at all the choice that I would have made.
"Buy a 34-year-old, spend €5m on him, pay him around €3.3m a year.
For me, no, he’s not the player I’d have recruited. He’s the type of player I’d have thought might have gone to China, gone somewhere for more money – ok, he’s decided to stay in France, but I wouldn’t have invested that much money, if I’d been at Bordeaux, on a 34-year-old.
"Yes, he’s got lots of caps, a good reputation, he’s a very good player. But they’ve signed him for four years! Four years at three million, three and a half million a year! They’re giving him 15 million over four years!
Asked if he'd rather invest in young players, Calippe said: "Yes, like Briançon from Nimes.
"He’d have cost €3m, but he’s 23, 24, and we could have helped him to the next level at Bordeaux and then, in two years, maybe sold him on to a major championship such as the English league for €8-12m.
"But we’ll never sell Koscielny! They said they wanted the Bordeaux model to be about trading – but you trade with youngsters, not 34-year-olds!"
