Arsene Wenger says he’s pleased to see Mathieu Debuchy back in action, and suggested the Frenchman might have a future in as a centre-half.
The 32 signed from Newcastle as a right-back, but injuries saw him lose his place to Hector Bellerin, and subsequent fitness issues have meant he’s spent most of his career at the club sidelined.
This season he has played in the Carabao Cup and the Europa League, impressing as one of the members of the back three in those games, and it’s something the manager has taken notice of.
“We are all very pleased for him because he has been through some very difficult moments with setbacks,” he said.
“Maybe his future is as a centre back. He has the attributes because, despite his size, he is very good in the air.
“You think he couldn’t play centre back because he’s not tall, but if you look at the number of balls he wins in the air it’s impressive.”
Wenger also had some words of praise for his character, saying, “Mathieu is absolutely strong and determined as well.
“He’s a quiet character but a strong one. I must say he is 100 per cent a professional player.”
Deubchy is in line for another start on Thursday when the Gunners face Red Star Belgrade at the Emirates.
Having given up on converting wingers to centre-forwards, Arsene now seems determined to convert full-backs to centre-backs. I blame Theo.
He’s played there before for us. Remember how good Sagna was on the occasions he played there. Monreal not doing a bad job either
But both Sagna and Monreal are competent at their first choice positions- I’ve yet to see a solid outing from Debuchy in the RB position for us.
Have you ever watched MD play earlier in his career at Arsenal and elsewhere?
I certainly have watched him play for other clubs before he joined us, and he has yet to recapture that form due to injuries and attitude.
There is no RB position in current system. RWB or RCB are the options for him. Being 32 it´s quite obvious where to put him. Wingback´s need pace, right?
Agree. May as well look to get the best from him we can. Sure he’ll be keen to stake a claim on the French national side. Maybe still has hopes of making World Cup squad.
Debuchy were just as good the few times he played there for us.
Very very similar player to Sagna in my opinion. Almost identical.
It makes sense when you’re playing a back three and I think Wenger building up debuchy’s confidence is the smart thing. Despite his arsenal career being an absolute disaster, he seems focused now and is putting in committed solid performances. The fact that he got through 120 minutes last week is positive. If Bellerin gets injured we are fucked so it’s not a bad thing to have a cover that’s actually a RB.
If Bellerin gets injured then we’ve only got Debuchy, AM-N and Coquelin to play as RWB…. oh and Chambers, Holding and Mustafi as RBs if we go back to a back 4… Not exactly top class and we may have to adjust our tactics, but better than at least half the PL teams…
Can the physio be played as the manager sometimes ?
Oh no…
Has played there before successfully.
Did a decent job in the last game considering how long it is since he’s played anything remotely competitive. Let’s hope he’s almost like a new signing ? What could possibly go wrong…
Internal Solution FC haaaapppyyy haaaalllloowweeneen
Don’t forget he has a social contract with the other player
Knew he’d be useful eventually. His career went off the rails after that fool arnautovic shoved him to the billboards. He’s been unlucky with injuries and Bellerin emergence didn’t help. He’s still a great defender on his day and can do a job. Shame it’s taken Wenger the europa league to learn how to rotate players. Nice internal solution nonetheless
Sagna made a good centre back, be would have been perfect for the current system…. Sign him up!!
How on earth is he still a free agent? Tempting
100% professional. Hmmm…
Why the doubt? Before his injury was excellent for us and did also play in central defence.
Mainly because of his hissy fits when he was supplanted by Bellerin. Constantly booting off about his treatment, in contrast to someone like Gibbs who I think was a true professional. Agreed though, he was good before he got Arnautoviced.
Gibbs came through arsenal’s youth ranks and was arsenal through and through. Debuchy came to arsenal as a 28 year old hoping to take the next step in his career. Regardless to how it turned out the man actually had ambition. After being replaced by bellerin and seeing how promising he was the man wanted to get regular game time to get into the Euros team, which at 30 years of age would arguably be his last chance to represent his country in a major tournament. If you can’t understand that that then you’re looking at it too much in… Read more »
I like the bloke and after his awful run of injuries I for one am very happy to see him back and playing well. Here’s to Holding for squaring the ledger a bit on Debuchy’s behalf.
Just no. Let Debuchy leave and promote someone from the youth side who is actually a CB.
So the choice between a French international at a prime age for a defender or an inexperienced kid from the youth team?
Who are you thinking of and when was the last one that came through and was a success at CB in the last 20 years?
I was going to say Tony Adams, but then i realised how old i am!
Yes looks like he can perform the ‘Monreal role’ for us. We need to make use of all available resources, that much is clear, I would have thought.
LANS.
However, I have long thought he was a quality player and if he knuckled down and fought for his place, he and Bellerin could drive each other to great heights!
Just buy a decent centre back FFS !! Fannying around with Debuchy Elneny etc wont win us the league
you realise its outside the transfer window? so you want wenger to bring in a CB that isnt good enough to get a club during the summer window?
I want to know how he thinks we can increase our registered number of players over 25…
New 60k per week contact then.
@ looks like his future is in the CB position. Only Mr. Wenger can say that. This is a 32-year old player who has spent all his career in RB and was bought because he was found to be a very good RB for club and country. Now Mr. Wenger has discovered in the twilight of his career and his contract, after so many seasons at Arsenal, that his future is in CB. Truth is nobody is willing to buy this guy from us or he would have been long gone. Names have been dropped for 3 summer windows and… Read more »
Thats to bad since there isn’t a RB position at Arsenal right now. I guess he should just refuse to play.
Far more accomplished and consistent RB than Bellerin.
At first my perception of this was ‘why are we not doing everything we can to re-establish him as a RWB for cover for Bellerin’ but after taking his injury record into account I think Wenger is right not to expose him to the vigorous fitness requirements to fill a RWB position especially with the attacking responsibilities we require from our wingbacks constantly needing to bomb up and down the flanks. As a CB I think it would allow him to be less mobile saving his legs for decisive moments in the game when he needs to take on an… Read more »
Problem is that with us, there is always a compromise! So now because he cannot run, we move him to CB where there is less need for him to run. We are always in a situation where we have to manage what we have. And you can always find justification for it. But in the end, it is what it is: compromise.