Is Coquelin ready to rescue his Arsenal career?

A lot of the big clubs these days use the loan system quite a lot to help them, and Arsenal are no different. With all the academy players trying to make it into the first team as well as a big squad to start with, sometimes the only way for a player to get some valuable competitive experience is for them to go to another club for a bit.

But often this is the last chance for a player, especially once they get past the age of 20, so I must admit that I thought that Francis Coquelin would probably be leaving Arsenal this summer. His loan deal last season with Bundesliga club Freiburg was beset by unlucky injuries and some of his performances were heavily criticised.

But the young Frenchman seems to have bounced back from that disappointment and has had a good pre-season. He also played really well for the under 21s against West Brom on Thursday evening and is the only player in the Arsenal squad, apart from Mathieu Flamini, that is a proper defensive midfielder. That and his versatility, which means he can play at right back as well, mean that Coquelin could be a useful squad player for the Gunners this season, especially if Wenger does not sign anyone else for that role before Monday night.

So, Gooners, do you think that the 23-year old Frenchman could really salvage his career with Arsenal?

Tags Flamini Freiburg Wenger

41 Comments

  1. Wenger will buy one proven player and Rabiot (if he doesn’t go to Roma). If Rabiot goes to Rome, then onl one player. If Wenger buys a CB like Sokratis then Chambers is going to be our DM. IF we sign Carvalho/Tiote etcโ€ฆ then Chambers is our CB.

    I doubt he’ll buy 3 or more players, but heck he did it a few years ago.

    One can dream!

  2. Ill be very happy with Alderwhiel (sorry for spelling) Carvalho and Remy.

    Come on guys Cavani? Reus? Or seriously any BIG name…
    How will they replace a player of that caliber in a few hours.

    Falcao is the most likely but his Wage is making this dream deal to be highly unlikely

  3. joel campbell is wasting his time at Arsenal by playing for u21….

    he can easily play for milan or other clubs

      1. They are all young 19,20,21.
        No hurry. By next summer
        Podolski Rosicky Ryo will be gone.
        Some players develop early eg Chambers.
        Others need more time. If pushed like
        Ramsey Walcott Wilshere Ox and Gibbs
        they can get injured, lose form and confidence
        and take 5 years to mature.

    1. Agreed with you this time… I feel bad for campbell, he deserve something better than this… Why keep him if he never gonna play??? Really, i do not understand to wenger, at least use him like substitution player or maybe, justo maybe, is the new viviano?!?!… I hope not

  4. Do you think a team that plays Coquelin, even as a squad player, can win the Premier League or Champions League? I don’t. I think it is better to sign some class players or we would regret playing Coquelin if he is needed for a few matches.

    1. I personally think coquelin is better than arteta and flamini, but I am not sure wenger feels that way. His ill fated loan spell at freiburg was down to him playing every position bar Dm and goalkeeper. Mainly he was played Lw……Wtf?

      Honestly, if coquelin and diaby prove their fitness along with chambers those 3 could easily over take arteta and flamini as our holding midfield choices.

      Having said that if a better player is available then we should get them. I am talking khedira, kondogbia, pogba, matuidi, lars/sven bender.

      Also if miquel is moving on we could do with another cb, though again I am sure wenger has settled on his 7 defenders (the amount he usually uses) Debuchy bellerin chambers mertesacker koscielny monreal gibbs. Again I think he views it that all of those could play centre back if required, with Flamini and coquelin able to play either full back. In the capital 1 cup, we might see hayden, ajayi and ormonde-ottewill used depending on the opposition.

      Upfront I think he might draft in a temporary signing, I really felt it would be remy, but now that ship has sailed. I am expecting some french unknown or a player who needs to rekindle his career. But I haven’t ruled out cavani, falcao or benzema. Realistically these are the only.players that might keep giroud on the bench when he is fit to return. The rest are no improvement on what we have, bony is close, but his 6 week absence in Jan/Feb is a blow to that move. This how I think the 17 man non association trained squad will look for the champions league, 15 confirmed with 2 question marked

      Debuchy, mertesacker, koscielny, rosicky, arteta, podolski, ozil, ospina, alexis, monreal, cazorla, flamini, sanogo, diaby, campbell,

      ryo? (or a new striker?) zelalem? (or a new defensive player that could play Dm and cb?)

      and the 8 association trained players

      Szczesney Gibbs Wilshire Walcott Ramsey Chambers Martinez Coquelin

      This means that giroud who won’t play until the knockout stages will be delisted until then. Galindo, macey, iliev, ajayi, crowley and pleguezuelo will also be delisted, the rest of the players all qualify for the b list.

  5. Coquelin Ryo Diaby
    should have been replaced
    years ago.
    However keeping 3 hacks
    is cheaper than buying and paying
    one top quality player so no doubt
    the three hackateers will be kept on.
    More loan time. More dead wood.

    1. These aren’t deadwood they are just players who have been injured or behind in their stage of development.coqulan was a much better player than Wiltshire Firmpong. Ect back in the u21 but he never got as much oppurtunity as them

  6. Coquelin big NO, Diaby big NO, Arteta is not a DMP, Flamini is good, but not excellent, he should come in as a sub when were are leading. EVERY other team has DMP`s in their squad, we don`t. Wake up Wenger!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Vidal from Juve is a beast, price tag โ‚ฌ30M, why we do not get him, Carvalho hasn`t proven anything in high level, so has not Rabiot. Torres has gone to AC Milan and Remy is going to Chelski, so get Falcao, whatever he costs, ยดcause we have the money in the bank.

    1. What do you mean by big? Big as in a big name? Or big as in weight? Or big as in height? Or big as in big influence?

      At 5’10 coquelin is as tall as arteta and flamini and at 6’3 midfielders dont come much taller than diaby. Both also weigh more than arteta and flamini. There is no doubt that a fit diaby would have the most influence on a game, but I doubt with his injury record he could “get stuck in” in 4141 formation.

      I think once everyone is back, Walcott especially, wenger will change the formation again to a 4312 with ozil playing just off Walcott and sanchez. Giving us awesome peaceful front. Chamberlain/cazorla, podolski, campbell, sanogo, gnabry and rosicky will understudy those 3.
      Ramsey wilshire and cazorla/chamberlain will be the first choice midfield trio. But when a more defensive approach is required wenger will call on arteta flamini Coquelin diaby or chambers.

  7. Now man utd is signing Blind..

    and yet Wenger is doing nothing again

    season after season

    all the same old shit

    1. @Hafiz Rahman.
      “Now man utd is signing Blind”.
      Playing Blind too
      Swansea loss,
      Sunderland draw
      MK Dons loss.
      David Moyes will be laughing.
      ” Not easy eh “Aloysius Paulus Maria van Gaal”.
      Btw where is David Moyes?
      Waiting to take over Newcastle maybe?

      1. they lost because Rooney, Mata, RVP and Janu wasnt playing that was their reserves team playing

        not to mention with Di Maria, Rojo, Vida and Blind….

        do you think they are weak??

        we struggle to score against them last season……

        how many world class players are there in their team then?

        1. We too have world class team. Ramsey, Ozil, Sanchez, Kos, Cazorla.. We ppl always think others r good, dont see wat a squad we have.

          Yeah, we too have weakness CDM and ST, that is job of Wenger. I hope he will do it.

        2. seriously, what is wrong with you, you’re making excuses for man united on why they lost to MK DONS for god sake, and not just lost, but were destroyed 4-0; had it been us we would have never heard the end of this from you, you would have been all doom and gloom probably telling everyone how we would be lucky to take 4th this season despite taking 4th+ for the last 15 years and being just as close to the title as 5th last season and improving or squad (as much as you would like to claim that we have only really signed Sanchez, Campbell is an upgrade and Chambers is an upgrade and we will get another player for sure.)

        3. Any neutral analysis will tell you their squad must be weak – maybe able to cobble a half-baked 1st X1 together but a top half premiership side should never lose 0-4 to a League 1 side even with a third string side.

  8. If Sanogo and Campbell score
    against Leicester does that mean
    Arsenal will not buy a striker?
    If Arsenal keeps a clean sheet
    will Arsenal not buy a defender?
    If Arsenal lose to Leicester
    will big signings be made?
    Or has the Gaffer made up his mind already?

    1. The Gaffer just wants to see the
      bleedin window closed so that he can carry on with his experiment of mixing youth with mediocrity & a sprinkle of quality to create a winning team that even surpasses the Invincibles!

    2. Before Giroud is injured Arsenal needs a striker…

      now Giroud is injured we need 2 strikers

      Both Sanago and Campbell are just not good enough….they should go…

      1. Sanogo has height nothing else.. Campbell is wayyyyyy better than him. But Wenger doesn’t understand it.

  9. Falcao is coming ๐Ÿ˜€ ๐Ÿ˜€
    Oh o o im so happy ๐Ÿ˜€ ๐Ÿ˜€
    Please dont fail the medical ๐Ÿ™ ๐Ÿ™

  10. Tott got Fazio, he is good player and cheap. He played very well for Europa League winners – Sevilla. Kouyate is also good, did you guys see his first match. Good display.

    There r players available in the market . We r just lazy. I know , it is easy to say than doing it. Y other World class team strengthen so easily. See now, Chelsea will buy good replacement for Torres at decent price in one day.

    1. Our problem is no one wants to join to play on the bench everyone wants first team football. We should go for someone young with super quality eg laporte(would cost a fortune)
      Inigo Martinez,
      Alderwield on loan is the best bet

  11. I bet there will not be any big name signings.. We did it with Sanchez, we wont buy any such players. Maximum we will spend 20-25m on two players. Will not be surprised if it is less than that.

  12. IMO Coquelin has never been too poor at arsenal, I recall watching him cover for injured Sagna brilliantly. Is he top class? again no. But Wenger knows what he’s doing, where is Diaby? Why is Wenger instructing playing of Diaby, Coquelin and Campbell in under 21s and going over to watch them?

    My feeling is that Sagna and Vermaelin have been replaced by Debuchy and Chambers effectively in Wenger’s mind. He knows Heyden and Bellerin can be called upon when there’s emergency for a game or two. Wenger also has used Arteta as a defensive mid for sometime now and even gave him captaincy. Flamini, Diaby and even Coquelin can adequately cover. Ramsey, Wilshere, Ozil, Carzola and Mozart are top class in attacking mid. Podolski and Campell left wingers while Ox,Walcott and Gnabry on right flank. Wenger bought Sanchez to play a striker( though I think he’s better on flanks, with his height) and Sanogo will develop to a very good striker!

    That’s a decent team to fight for a top four atleast, BUT WILL NEED LOT’S OF LACK TO WIN ANY TROPHY! Can we compete with Chelsea, Mancity and Liverpool, Man United? Player for player I’d say NO. But the determination is there.
    We still need a CB, DMF and top striker but with two days to go, Wenger might buy but it’ll be just one player, or even a loan….WE ALL RECALL KIM KARLSTROM, BENAYOUN!!!!!

    1. Player for player I’d say we are the fourth best at the moment
      City(likely departures:Richards,nastasic,Sinclair) don’t need any signing
      Chelsea (likely departures;van ginkel) could get a striker
      Man U(likely departures;Anderson,welbeck,hernandez) dm,cb needed
      Arsenal (likely out;ryo,coqulan,miquel)need…cb..dm……st
      Liverpool(likely out;assaidi,agger) completed their squad
      Spurs(likely out chicherez,ekkoto,capoue)dm

      This shows that by the end of the transfer window we could be third best as Man U have quiet a few left to depart

  13. That old man is too stubborn.Am sure we will struggle for that fourth spot that has become our jack pot.As of now,Remy is off to Chelsea!And the old man keeps bragging about his strikers like Sanogo and Giroud!

  14. If we sign Carvalho, Falcao and Sokratis I will be satisfied, I guess. It will be a decent summer. Not a great summer but decent. I was hoping for a lot more but you have to accept whatever you get I suppose

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