Arsenal: Francis Coquelin Suddenly In Driver’s Seat

Arsenal hasn’t had many success stories recently quite like Francis Coquelin and this new contract puts him in the driver’s seat in negotiations.

Arsenal has announced that their French trio of Olivier Giroud, Laurent Koscielny and Francis Coquelin have all extended their stay, with the former two locked in until 2020 and the latter until 2021. This is a rather big deal and while it is still not the duo of contracts we all want to hear about, it is definitely a step in the right direction.

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Francis Coquelin in particular has a unique position in all of this. While he was in his younger days, he was famously called out by Sir Alex Ferguson as nowhere near a Premier League talent. Le Coq may have trained with the likes of Jack Wilshere, but he never had the same hype.

Very little was ever said about Coquelin. He was sent out on loan to Charlton Athletic not more than a couple years ago and before we knew it, he was being yanked back into the fray in a midfield drought and, just like that, he solidified himself as one of the top defensive midfielders in England.

Few other clubs would have had the patience to develop Coquelin like Arsenal did. He was accumulating yellow cards at a rapid pace but he showed a keen ability to overcome that and before the season was over, he had slowed his collection down massively.

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At a time when the Gunner’s needed a spine, they found it in Le Coq, who took over the role of enforcer and made it his own.

For awhile there, he owed it all to Arsenal. Without the club, he would have found it tough to come out on top. But now, the roles have reversed in the way that Hector Bellerin’s have. Coquelin is now in the driver’s seat where he needs to repay the faith that Wenger had in him.

He is already well on his way to doing that, but there is a ways to go. The Gunner’s midfield is depleted and it is going to go through a transition phase with Santi Cazorla out for the season and who knows how long after that. Coquelin is going to play a huge role in reconditioning this midfield in Wenger’s image.

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He is the veteran there now. He is the anchor. And with this new deal, he has been reminded of the faith that rests in him.