With Arsene Wenger having decided not to pursue the transfer of Morgan Schneiderlin, assuming the Arsenal transfer rumours linking him with us were right in the first place, there would appear to be a little less competition in the centre midfield of the Arsenal team for the coming season.
Both Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere have spoken recently about their desire to play in the middle rather than out wide, although both did also acknowledge that this is a very strong area of the squad for the Gunners. So the Welshman and the Englishman are probably quite happy that Schneiderlin is not coming to north London, but the boss had a bit of bad news for the pair this morning.
In an interview reported by Arsenal.com the Frenchman was asked about various things from last season and about which players excelled and he picked out the two central midfielders Francis Coquelin and Santi Cazorla, the players that Jack and Aaron are up against for a place in the starting XI.
Wenger said on the best breakthrough performer, “You would say Francis Coquelin. He is the most unexpected player to make it from January onwards. I don’t think I am exaggerating if I say he convinced everybody that he played a huge part and contributed very well.”
And on the outstanding player of the season he said, “Santi Cazorla – throughout the season – was absolutely top, from the start to the finish, and he played more than 50 games.”
And for most of those games, especially in the second half of the season, the Spaniard was playing right where Ramsey and Wilshere want to play, in the box to box midfield role. So how do you rate their chances of beating Cazorla to the role this season?