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Francis Coquelins Injury Will Not Alter Arsenal’s Transfer Policy
By Josh Sippie
Francis Coquelin’s injury is severe. He is expected to miss a bare minimum of two months. And yet Arsenal’s transfer policy will not change with Arsene Wenger.
Initial reports on Francis Coquelin’s injury are terrible. “It will be at least two months,” Arsene Wenger said, as quoted by the Guardian. However, Wenger then admitted that it was all speculation and that he did not want to say any more. That means that it would take a miracle to welcome Francis Coquelin back to Arsenal in two months. It will be longer.
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Using mathematics, that means that Francis Coquelin will not return until after the transfer window. To some, this little fact may cause a bit of perking up. Perhaps Arsene Wenger’s hand will be forced and he will finally bring reinforcements to Arsenal’s holding midfield. Which is something he should have done long ago anyway.
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Not so fast. Arsene Wenger has already stepped up to indicate that transfers are not his first recourse. “We have in the squad the players who can compensate,” Wenger foolishly indicated in the same interview. This statement alone causes so much discomfort in my mind that I do not even know what to expect going forward. Who are those player’s of quality, Monsieur Wenger?
“Mathieu Flamini and Calum Chambers.”
Yes, you read that correctly. Captain Planet and Captain Step-over, the two men to help Arsenal ‘compensate’ for the loss of Francis Coquelin. After all Wenger will “do what is needed in January, knowing as well it is not an ideal transfer market.”
No transfer market is ideal for Arsene Wenger. None. Spend money to help the team? Count him out. Most of the time, I will give him the benefit of the doubt. Not signing a striker? That’s fine. Olivier Giroud is a class striker and Theo Walcott is learning to be one as well. We still have to give Danny Welbeck another chance as well. Not spending £70 million on Edinson Cavani is something I can excuse.
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What cannot be excused is expecting our enigmatic Mathieu Flamini and our not-even-a-midfielder Calum Chambers to fill the hole that Francis Coquelin left. That is not going to happen. As much faith as I have in Arsene Wenger to do the right thing, if he goes three weeks into January and still has not signed a defensive midfielder, I will chalk it up as delusion.
There are players out there that can be made available if they are not already. Francis Coquelin’s injury cannot be ignored. Jorginho is apparently open to a move. Granit Xhaka may seek a bigger stage. There are options. You may have to overpay, but that is commonplace in today’s transfer market.
You cannot simply ‘compensate’ for Francis Coquelin with two people that are nowhere near the quality that Le Coq is. Flamini is leaving in the summer, is this just Wenger trying to squeeze any last remaining use out of him? Probably.
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As far as Calum Chambers goes, I have all the confidence in the world that he will grow into a solid defensive option. As a center back. His pace is painful at times. If he gives the ball away on the back line, why would that change if you push him forward and ask him to do what Francis Coquelin has been doing?
This is not good. You would think that Wenger would learn a lesson. If one injury can debilitate you as much as Francis Coquelin’s injury figures to, don’t you think your team is ill-staffed to mount a serious and prolonged trophy run? Apparently not.