According to the Mirror, Arsenal could sell Francis Coquelin before the January transfer window closes.
The 26-year-old was a surprise omission from the squad that lost to Nottingham Forest on in the FA Cup on Sunday. It’s understood the player was not injured.
Arsene Wenger spoke last week about the midfielder’s situation at the Emirates claiming he’s suffered as a result of the Gunners using a four-man defence less regularly.
“Life has been a bit unfair with him, it’s true,” said Wenger. “That’s also down a bit to our change in system – he paid a heavy price for that – but overall he’s in a very good shape.
“We’ll have games, many games now, so that will help him keep his focus and maintain his quality at a very high level.”
Coquelin has made only one start in the Premier League this season and that was as a defender in the defeat at Manchester City.
The Frenchman has three and a half years left on his current deal and it’s suggested we could hold out for a fee of £10 million. West Ham United are understood to be his most likely destination.
He wont go as he may not be wanted.
Actually he’d be good fit for the Hammers. Like he was at Charlton.
Sadly, it’s yet another player that hasn’t reached his true potential for one reason or another
Coq exceeded his potential. He’s just not very good.
Francis deserves much better than warming the stands for Arsenal! Let him go!
If the news is true, I for one would be sad to see him go because of what he has done for the team when we were crying out for some steel in the midfield, how he has fought for everything in his career and what he represents to our academy players looking to make a mark. You never hear Coquelin complaining or see him sulking and demanding attention like Debuchy and others. When all is said and done, the move would be good for him personally and he deserves to play for a side that is committed to defending.… Read more »
Very well said after all that is said a lot of fans not all have a very short memory span very short. Coquelin isn’t as bad as people are making him how to be. The present team has no shape or direction and will make it difficult getting the best out of most players. Whoever gets him as long as they play to his strengths like with any player will get a good player.
Coquelin was a good squad player, a good rotational player. He was a faithful servent to Arsenal. But he is not the CDM midfielder that arsenal need to challenge for the league title. He just isn’t. Could have used him against Forest though.
He is not the defensive midfielder Arsenal needs simply because our attack is so poor (and i mean it…. even with Sanchez) that we always need more players to bomb forward to help, in which case his skills in defending make no sense. Now think of a team where our attackers are so deadly the back 5 can focus on their job in defending. This is similar to when fans say Mesut should not be asked to defend and should be allowed to focus on his main skills to unlock defenses and provide provide assist.
i would argue he could be, his sts for his first season next to santi were the best in the league for his position.
He is rather limited in the sense that he could not adapt himself to play with other midfield combinations or formations. However, given a system that suits his game, he has amply proved that he can prosper.
If he is indeed leaving, I wish him all the best. Ironically, this is the kind of player who does well when pitted against Arsenal teams of past decade. Should he go to a PL team, his matches against Arsenal could be ok interesting.
This is why we Arsenal fans all fight and debate with each other and we can’t even come up with a good idea what we should be doing. Great write up but sorry Coq isn’t good enough to be at Arsenal. He is fringe squad type player that should have been gone while ago. Players like Coq can be easily replaced from the academy. This idea that Coq is instrumental to the success of Arsenal is joke. If we can’t agree with the fact that he isn’t good enough to be here is a sad state. I like Coq but… Read more »
Most affected by Cazorla’s injury
apart form Santi
Then it’s only logical to let him go as Santi doesn’t seem to be returning unfortunately.
Please please please let this be true
Replaced by? We need a beast/athlete in midfield.
William Carvalho ? Or maybe it’s the start of Ainsley M-N’s transformation into the next Podge Vieira…
AMN
it would be perfect – minus one wood
Club like Arsenal should not have players who is not able to move the ball forward.
SELL,SELL,SELL
We seem to have a lot of players who cannot move the ball forwards. Sideways – Yes; Backwards – Yes; but Forwards – No.
Exactly David M. The whole team is struggling to move the ball forwards at the moment.
£10m? In today’s market? F*ck off. If that’s true, then Wenger simply has to be absolved of setting prices like he currently does. It’s bad enough we don’t buy players well anymore, but we’ve also stopped being good at selling players for great prices. We’re now one of the worst at it. £27m or f*ck off. Edit: I’d still keep him, but only as a DM (we know Wenger isn’t fond of DMs anymore). But someone explain how we offering him a contract extension last year, big wage increase, then marginalise and sell him this year? Our whole contract process… Read more »
Errr in what world is Francis Coquelin a £27m player #FIFA?
In a world where VVG costs £75m… you don’t have to live the Coq but he’s been in the French squad is still to hit his peak in terms of age and had been a starter in one of the stronger top premiership sides over recent seasons. Is he actually worth less than Xhaka?
I’m still half asleep.
Who is VVG?
Virgil van Gherkin
Vincent van Gogh. Talented, speedy left winger.
A real artist on the ball.
In response to Damo Dinkum, you don’t ‘ear of Vincent Van Gogh much these days! ??
I like Francis and value his contribution and commitment, but he has never been capped by France at senior level, though often in the youth teams. I don’t think this necessarily proves much (France’s midfield is likely to include Pogba and Kante) any more than Arteta’s failure to be capped by an immensely strong Spain did.
Is this a joke?
when was the last time he was called up with the French squad?
And yes he is worth less then Xhaka.
You guys are clueless. “Today’s market” means top players are extremely expensive, but players of Cocklane’s quality still go for 8 – 12 mill. That’s a normal process in modern capitalism.
Capitalism also has this thing called “inflation”.
and I don’t think Wenger sets the player’s fees
How much bigger of an increase did he get? 15-20K a week. Reasonable for a his level of experience. Not hard to move on. Rather try to sell him with years on his contract then 1 year remaining. I can’t imagine what you would say if we let him wind down his contract to 1 year left trying to sell him? Exact opposite perhaps. How in the world did we let him wind down his contract without getting an extension on him? 27M? are kidding. 10M is kinda low but 27M? How, he only is a DM that is defensive… Read more »
Exactly the sort of defensive-minded player who was needed yesterday. Covering the fullbacks and pressing their midfield. What a total clusterfuck.
To be fair, he doesn’t do that well.
He does when asked to do that role…since Santi’s injury, he’s been pressing high up the pitch. Which is ridiculous.
Yes, ridiculous that the manager tells him to do so.
First he was underrated, then overrated, now a 10 mln west ham player which i think is an exact reflection of his ability and talent.
The problem is he is good enough for what we are right now. An average team who may contend for the top 4. But we have many players who fit the same bill.
But we have far to many players that are not good enough for where we the fans believe we should be. This squad will need several new players of top quality once wengers leaves to get anywhere near back to the place we feel we should be.
True
Madness. Hard working and better than Elneny in my opinion.
yep!
And I’m quite convinced he’ll score a cracker in his 1st game for the team he’ll join if we let him go….
I still think he is better than xhaka in the holding role. But a manager who fails to pump his players up for a game one really cant do anything. Its pointless shouting out frustrations with the squad but just wanna seen this season get over as soon as it can and wenger resigns at the end of it.
He’s at least 20 mil.
Must remember he had stats rivaling that of matic the season he broke into the first team
Then Theo must be worth 100M since he had that great run remember way back when? uhhhmm No
I’d rather sell Elneny. He must be a really kind person, but it’s really uncomfortable to see how soft he is…
This. I like Elneny as a player, but he can’t play defense, and our squad can probably only accommodate one deep-lying passer who’s defensibly suspect, and Xhaka (despite poor form and lots of fan abuse) is the better option in that particular role. Coq’s big problem is being suspect in possession, especially when receiving the ball under pressure. But he’s not as bad with the ball as some people say, and his ball winning and intercepting is both a) very useful, and b) something virtually no one else in our squad offers. I like AMN a lot, and I think… Read more »
I guess we can agree to disagree. Coq is horrible with the ball. Yes he was good with Santi but thats only because the offensive players were in top form all the way up till the Chelsea match. After that even with Santi the club struggled. Coq is a liability. You and others are right he should go for more then 10M. AW is horrible in the modern transfer market. 15M at the most. He just doesn’t bring anything offensively so his market is limited. To clubs only looking for DM that are defensive. I think it would come to… Read more »
Sell them both and rebuild.
I know we need to improve the quality of the squad with truly great players, but we shouldnt underestimate the role played by squad players. A player like Coquelin and previously Gibbs, are the kind of players Ferguson kept around his squad because they not only understood the culture of the team but for their quality, they were adequate squad players. Not every player in a squad is supposed to be a world beater. They are good for squad harmony. The starting 11 players know that they have to be at their best to push the team but there are… Read more »
A well-argued point of view. Give that (wo)man a job.
Has Wenger resigned yet?
No. Precisely wrong. Ferguson got rid of players like Coq. His subs were much better, and he didn’t have too much difficulty getting rid of players of the quality of Coq, Walcott, Welbeck, Iwobi, Holding, Chambers because they were on a low salary. Arsenal’s squad is now 6th best in England, but it’s not close to Liverpool and Tottenham, so fighting for the top would take at least 3 years for shitty players to wind down their contracts. Sven will bring much better options. The 2 mill. Greek defender Mavropanos has played 16 senior matches (scoring 3 goals) and will… Read more »
Lindegaard, raphael, wes brown, john oshea, fabio, anderson, cleverly, park ji sung, nani, welbeck and hernandez. This is a Ferguson B-team.
Are you telling me Coquelin and Gibbs currently are worse than the above mentioned players?
If you think so, then so be it. But for me, he thrived from having a good rotation policy and playing according to the strengths of his players. These players have won titles for him. He only spent big money for player he thought were good enough for the starting 11.
Great point.
yes Coq is worse then the B team. Gibbs can make an argument but he made too much money.
how do you know, he could turn out to be a right shit player
Great points on Hayden and Afobe. I mentioned about Afobe last year and asked if he’s really that much worse than Welbeck? Injuries aside, Afobe never even got to play a minute for the first team, but we’ve afforded Welbeck more chances. He wasn’t gonna be a world beater, but as a 3rd choice striker, he would’ve been happy to stay at the club and would’ve done so. Hayden didn’t even get a sniff (injuries withstanding), yet is one of Newcastle’s best players and he’s only 22.
So do we keep Chuba around forever if he is happy to be a 3rd string striker?
Every club has players like Hayden who slip through the cracks and flourish elsewhere.
I’m sure a guy like McGuane might be another one of those or Chris Willock. That happens
yes having players around just because they take pride in being at ARsenal is wrong. I love our academy kids and they should be given chances to play but not everyone can get those chances. Due to injuries or depth not everyone can get that chance. Some move on to get that chance elsewhere and you can’t blame them and vice versa. Some players aren’t good enough to be a Arsenal. I guess I believe in the idea of the backup either being young and able to push the starter or a veteran who knows his role until another young… Read more »
“Life has been a bit unfair with him, it’s true,” said Wenger.
It’s not life, mate. You’re the one picking the formation, choosing the squad. Picking Wilshere to play 6 games in a row. Picking Ramsey every week til he picked up an injury. Persisting with Mohammed Elneny.
I’d be very sad to see Coquelin depart. Given his age, experience and stats (not to mention the market at the moment) should be £20m minimum.
It’s not you who decides the price.
If we get 2 offers – 1 for 5 mill and 1 for 7 mill, he’ll go for 7 mill. That’s how life works. There are better players who would player for Arsenal demanding a lower salary. win win.
Of late he is a trying a bit too hard to show he has another side to his game other than defensive. Often caught upfield in the opposition penalty box with his pants down while we get countered, or trying to play hollywood through balls and ceding possession. I think he knows that players like Niles and Willock will be the future in terms of the squad utility players. A good time and age to let him go. But if we are letting him go we surely have someone else lined up… Right??? Let’s see if Mislintat has made any… Read more »
You’re correct in hat he is to far up the pitch, but that is a tactical decision by AW. A wrong one I think as his best attribute is shielding a back four. AW has now exposed him and the team even further. I’m ok if we sell Coq and bring in a better replacement, however, I hav no faith that’s what will happen.
Result. Best news i’ve had since I threw up my breakfast….
Would prefer to keep him unless we replace him with a better DM (which of course we won’t). He doesn’t have an equivalent in the squad.
I’ll be really interested to see how he gets on somewhere like West Ham, if he goes. I can see him doing pretty well in a more defensively minded team where his only responsibility is to break up play.
We cant sell him yet, until he has scored. He’ll do the celebration to end all celebrations. You just know it. Even if its a consolation goal, or one of many in a dished out drubbing (wishful thinking atm).
When we finally find some players that bite back, and move away from the “they like it up ’em” a little, we get rid of them. Who’s next? Kolasinac? Coq isn’t a technical masterpiece, but he puts in work, and when he’s played, it’s mostly been in formations and squads that didn’t play to his strengths. But haven’t we get enough pushovers – let a few of them go. Sure, if Wenger doesn’t want a DM anywhere, then it makes sense. But then.. why did we get him, and extend him? I understand if he wants away, but I don’t… Read more »
Ah man, I really appreciate Coquelin. It’s a shame he hasn’t really worked in the midfield since Cazorla has been out and that in part is more a shame on Arsenal’s preparation in getting someone even close to what he has done in the midfield. Coqzorla has been the last solid midfield partnership I can think of. Wilshere looks our closest to a Cazorla replacement and I really thought Coq has a chance to step next to his mate in the team and really remind a lot of us who have forgotten why he’s important. I’d love to at least… Read more »
Time to move on the woods and bring in some quality please. Our new recruitment team please get to work. We long suffering Arsenal supporters deserve some lift, you know.
EDIT: scratch that, I was mistaken.
Letting a DM go and not getting one. Brilliant.
We have a lot of one skill players:
Iwoby – dribbliing
Coq – tackle
Walcott – staying on offside line)
Welbeck – pressing
Xhaka – long balls
Ramsey – running into the box
They can’t do anything else, everybody for sale!
So much truth! You make a team incredibly unbalanced when you have to cater for other players flaws.
You only do it for truly exceptional players E.G – Pirlo (Gattuso), Scholes (Keane) and even they offset certain limitations by being so dominant and affecting games consistently.
Instead we have players that should just do the fusion dance…
Despite the fact we are continually told we are loaded until it’s time to spend some money. We could use the cash.
Coquelin highlights the pure failure of the boss and the coaching staff. When he made the impact in the first team it was because he was playing on the half way line and tackling anything that moves. Instead of working on his defensive capabilities and physical presence they decided to then try and turn him into some kind of midfield creative force. We have been screaming for a defensive midfielder ever since Gilberto left but as with many other positions Wenger choses to ignore the obvious and carry on with the view he knows best and everyone else is wrong.… Read more »
Exactly. We haven’t had CM who can defend this season which shows in our defence getting exposed in almost every match. We could buy a starting DM and keep Coq as a backup. Sell Elneny.
If we sell Coq will we buy a good DM or we would be settle again for unknown players just like the defender we have bought. Wenger is out of ideas now. Xhaka and elneny are not proper DMs only Coq playerd the part even though he is avarage. I dont know what will happen to arsenal now.
West Ham is a decent club.
Really hope things work out for him. Needs to add reliability to his game. Discipline. He could be a good player for them.
Is is actually a bit strange that he hasn’t started a match while Xhaka has been average and he looked okayish against City as a middle CB, probably more solid than chambers or holding have been this season. Was a regular in the first eleven until Christmas 2016 and suddenly totally out of favour,
Release the Coq.
He’s a tryer for sure, and there’s a lot to like about him, but ask yourself if he’d get in to any of the teams that finished above us. That’s our problem in a nutshell.
Players like this always end up at lower tier clubs, because that’s their true level,, and while Wenger’s loyalty is admirable on a personal level, that kind of loyalty doesn’t often win the major trophies.
Yeah. Good idea getting rid of our only defensive midfielder.
West Ham are horrible, I wouldn’t wish that on him. There are reports that Valencia are interested, I wonder if there’s any truth in that or if somebody’s come up with a story because Gabriel is there.
Let the Coq get loose from the Sonic underwear…