Arsene Wenger has heaped praise onto the Arsenal midfielder Francis Coquelin, who has been nothing short of amazing and a true revelation for what he has done since returning early from a loan spell towards the end of the last calendar year.
The Arsenal boss, in fact, reckons that there could have been no complaints about the performances of the feisty young Frenchman – even if the Gunners had paid close to a club record transfer fee to bring him in. But as reported in The Guardian, Wenger thinks that Coquelin´s terrific form, which has been a big factor in how well Arsenal have bounced back from a poor start, has gone largely unheralded because he was already a Gunner and did not cost big money.
The prof said, “The world has changed. The appreciation today of the quality of a player is just down to the money you spend. If we had bought Coquelin at Christmas for £40m, everyone would say, ‘What a signing.’ I am sorry he didn’t cost any money. He is still a good player.”
But however good he is, it appears that Wenger is still looking to sign a top quality central midfielder in the summer transfer window, if that was ever his intention in the first place of course. There was a plethora of Arsenal transfer rumours linking the club with players like Morgan Schneiderlin, Sami Khedira, William Carvalho and more last summer, with the media claiming that only a very stubborn resistance from Southampton had prevented Wenger getting his man. So it sounds like we could soon be seeing the France international at the Emirates.
Wenger said of his transfer plans, “It hasn’t changed a lot. What is for sure is Coquelin has shown he has the capacity to play for us and play a big part in the success of the team. I think nobody would dispute that his performances have been convincing and that he is ready for a fight – even if somebody comes in. Even if somebody else comes in, he will stay here. I extended his contract [in February]. That means I believe in him.”
Do you think that `somebody´ will be Schneiderlin? And how will the two fit into the squad and team?