Although it has not been confirmed yet ob the official Arsenal website, it appears that our young French midfield warrior Francis Coquelin has now removed any lingering doubts about his commitment to the club by signing a four year contract extension to his current deal which was due to expire at the end of this season, as revealed by a report in The Sun.
There were rumours flying about that the 23-year old was holding off on signing the new contract offered by Arsene Wenger, with suggestions that he wanted some sort of assurances from the boss about playing regularly and not going back onto the bench or into the reserves, especially if Arsenal end up signing one of the many central midfielders we have been linked with.
But as much as Wenger can assure his players that they are in his plans, it is up to them and their performances to make sure they play and there can be no guarantees. It is much more likely that Coquelin and his representatives were just trying to get the best possible deal and who can blame them? We first heard that the offer was three years and now it seems to be four, so maybe that was part of the negotiations.
Whatever the reason, it is great news for the fans that we now have Coquelin tied up and it should also give the whole dressing room a boost ahead of this crucial Premier League clash with Aston Villa, especially after the news that Alexis Sanchez is carrying a knock and may miss the game.
We may have to be patient and diligent against an improving Aston Villa, boosted by their own midfield star Fabian Delph signing a new deal. But Coquelin will be determined to snuff him out and make sure that he celebrates his new Gunners contract with an Arsenal win.
I know its a small sample but I am much more confident in Coquelin than any player we have had at that position for a long time.
agreed- who would have thought, we had a dm sitting under our noses all this time!
great news when he signs.
wenger today has said no more signings.
so please enough with the schneiderlin, reus, hummels talk
Muff give credit where credit is due.
Wenger has tried in the past to push coquelin into the team. It didn’t work out but he showed faith, kept him on and brought him back.
Agreed Muffy .I bet by the end of season he will be better than Shniderlin, and could take his place in the French picking order.Got to be proud of him for how he has proved most of us,no names, wink wink, for being to hasty in judging his ability.
CB
EMIRATES Stadium to host BraziL vs ChiLe ………….. Uhuh…. Money for Kroenke
We didn’t play anyone at his position for a long time, that was the problem.
Having the likes of Arteta there was pointless as he simply wasn’t capable of squashing attacks and chasing down balls the way Le Coq does.
Arteta was really a slow holding midfielder, Le Coq is an out and out smash attacks and get that ball terrier type of DM.
Now with Paulista (I believe that was his happy face in the Arsenal press photos) behind him I fear for opposition attacks, those two boys are gonna need big pockets!
Feeling confident for the first time in a long long time.
Thank you Le coq. Alex song started like this and become a wonderful player.
At his press conference this morning when Wenger was asked about new contracts for Arteta and Coquelin, he said there is no news on Arteta but is 99% sure Coq will stay, so not confirmed yet.
99% is pretty sure coming from Wenger! He was only 50% sure on Gabriel.
He also said there will be no more signings so that is also a good sign for Le Coq to stay.
Come on Wenger pull your finger out!
Wenger’s coq is on four yellow card, so he should use flaming against villa and use the Coq against the spuds
agreed, with villas pace with agbonlahor and benteke, they will counter quick- i see alot of yellows- really dont rate flamini at all though- a definite liability.
offtopic- amazing that suge knight is still walking the street after all hes done.
karma got u in the end , hope u rot
I thought he already turned himself in?
@True.Gooner – This just rectifies the need for us to bring in another specialist DM in the summer.
Coq cant play all the games ofcourse as there are suspensions, injuries, fatigue, loss of form, etc during the season. We cant expect Flamini and ageing Arteta, Diaby or young Bielik to cover that spot.
With Le Coq signing, we release Flamini, Diaby and if Arteta does or doesn’t sign, a new DM in the summer is most welcome.
I thought the card limit changes after xmas?
coquelin is doing well,yet fans want a new dm.personally,i think he has good concentration levels.before being loaned out,did well even when played at right back…..
totally endorse wenger’s idea of finding solutions from within.add to that hes educated ‘the arsenal way’ !
if he wants assurances of playing time,that shows he cares abt football and not jus the money….
Yeah I remember him doing well against Chelsea way back in Jan 2013 when he was getting slowly integrated in to the first team.. Some even went on to claim after that game “Who needs Song when you have got young Coquelin”.. Such was the quality he showed in that game.. But was soon forgotten with that s**t head Ramires injuring him which kept him out of the team until the season end..
He even threatened Wenger that he would leave if he aint getting game time.. I love his attitude.. He is still young and has got his good years ahead of him..
When Coq is the only midf left defending, ill hold my judgement till then cos lets face it its Arsenals Achilles. Also if no one on here has confidence in flamini Arteta well then why wouldnt you think that another holding player is needed. What about injuries, red cards or even yellow ones, tiredness, times you need two dm’s playing or even the will to improve on what you have already got.
After watching Coquelin play in the past one month or so I am convinced that he can pretty much do the job for us.. Yeah he is still raw, but the only way for him is now on the up.. He is good at anticipating, intercepting, tackling and reading of the game.. On the whole he does all the basics right and guards his CB’s well.. After all thats what you expect from a DM, just sit in front of the back 4.. Even Khedira does that with occasional forward runs.. I am not saying he is as good as Khedira, but he can be, he has got that potential.. For that he needs game time and needs it here.. He needs it to develop the understanding with this crop of players.. I am glad he put the pen to paper..
Cheers Coq..
The other thing he’s good at is shouting at and organising his team mates both in defence and midfield to cover, harass and tackle the opposition.
With Alexis setting the example upfront, and Le Coq marshalling the middle, we are seeing a new level of commitment, tackling and team spirit that makes us much more competitive all across the pitch.
Le Coq deserves his chance to be first-choice DM till end of season, and I hope he really rises to the challenge
COYG
There was a different vibe on the field against Brighton when Coq was subbed on. Everything felt calm and at ease.
For me the most impressive aspect has been the discipline. He just runs a fairly narrow line about the width of the penalty area in front of the defence. The role assigned to him appears to be very specialist, almost a sub-set of CDM types – very Claude Makelele. Schneiderlin and all the other names banded around almost look like marauding box-to-box types by comparison. Interestingly Bielik is often thrown in to the debate as an up and coming option in the CDM role – everything I have seen and heard about the kid says he is competing for Ramsey’s position. Of course, Wenger is the conversion king and he may have other ideas but I don’t see him ever doing the job Coquelin is presently doing.
There is hot some news about the kid..
Some director at Arsenal in a meeting today said “Every one at the club is blown away by what is on show in training by Bielik”.. They all think we dont have to wait long to see him in the first team.. He is going to have an instant impact.. Things getting really spicy..
Not doubting you ram but what is your source for this?
Twitter mate.. his acc is @goonerdave66 u can check it as well.. he even posted a photo of the meeting..
Cheers mate. At the risk of feeling pretty foolish later I have to say I am very excited about this kid. Gone under the radar, not much chat in the media and many on here are underwhelmed because he isn’t a footballing household name. He ain’t no regular 17 year old that is for sure – he looks the regular man-child. We still all remember that other man-child Rooney at 16 and what he did to us. Further back I remember Norman Whiteside at 17. Closer to home we soon got over the shock of Cesc in his 1st team strip at the same age. Damn, even Theo debuted for England at 17 and Danny Welbeck debuted in PL at 17. Aguero was playing 1st team football at 15 and Pele lifting the world cup at 17. Despite what some will say plenty of precedent in football history for 17 year olds making an impact but I acknowledge there are many, many more who didn’t or couldn’t. And we know you can’t win anything with kids. Only time will tell.
Woaaah..!! That is some excitement you are showing there mate..!!
Cheers..
Yes a tad excitable there – not normally me. But you started it with that tweet reference – all your fault! Cheers.
Dont blame me.. Blame Wenger for bringing him on board..
#WengerOut 😛
Agreed as I said before judge him at end of season. We will have Ramsey, new guy Belkie and even Debuchey could play there,so Forget about this Shniederlin guy and embrace who we have.We have been there and done that. Well done Wenger. CB
Le Coq is great and I’m glad he signed but in the summer we need a TOP DM.
Injuries, suspension, fatigue, losing form,playing two DM’s against big sides,making sure he’s always competing for his place so he isn’t complacent.
These are some of the reasons why we need another TOP DM.
Good Boy.
The other good thing about Le Coq is he’s not frightened to shout instructions at his defensive and midfield team-mates to track back, cover runs, make tackles. He also seems to have a good rapport with Santi, so he plays off the simple ball to let the Spanish maestro build attacks.
So what with Alexis setting new standards of commitment, tracking back, and generally making a nuisance of himself when the opposition start to go forward, and Le Coq marshalling the middle, we’ve seen a new level of energy and team spirit right across the team.
Le Coq should be 1st choice DM for rest of season (even when Jack is back) to see if he is going to be a permanent fixture in that role.
Wish him all the best to achieve that
COYG
Apologies – duplicated my comment. Doh!!
Couldn’t have put it better,how I wish I was good at English. CB
Don’t see why we wouldnt announce it the second he signed.
Certainly more important than campbell signing.