The name of Francis Coquelin has been on the lips of many an Arsenal fan in recent weeks, especially since his disciplined and destructive performance at the heart of the Gunners midfield helped to produce our first big away win in a long time.
Although most Arsenal fans would still like to see Arsene Wenger spend good money in the transfer market on an experienced and top class central midfielder like Morgan Schneiderlin, we do not seem too concerned about the boss waiting until the summer and giving young Coquelin the chance to keep strutting his stuff for the rest of the season.
And that seems likely to happen as our manager explained to Arsenal Player what made him give this latest chance to his fellow Frenchman, and also why he kept Coquelin at the club despite not getting a Premier League start for nearly two years.
It was not just the fact that Wenger saw very encouraging signs from the midfielder in the training sessions, although that was a part of it and the reason the boss sent him on loan to Charlton was just to gain the match fitness he needed to play for us.
Wenger revealed that Coquelin having come through the academy system, spending nearly seven years as a Gunner and having the club at his heart was a major reason for keeping patience and hoping that things would click for the young player.
He said, “Francis is contributing to the team well at the moment and he has shown that he has matured through difficulties. I kept patience with him because I saw his talent and also because I give a huge importance to people who have been educated at the club and who have been brought up together because they know what the club means.
“When you have six or seven players in the squad who think this is the club they want to be at, of course this gives us strength and brings stability to the team.”
The effectiveness of the Arsenal academy has been under question in recent years, with many of our graduates failing to make the grade and move on, but if Coquelin keeps it up he will have given it a massive boost and will join the likes of Wilshere, Gibbs, Szczesny and Bellerin in the current first team. Not too bad Gooners.
And it seems that Wenger is going to give Coquelin every possible chance to make it by not signing a DM this month. Do you think this is the right thing to do?