Arsenal: Mathieu Debuchy revelation certifiable, but not really

Arsenal look set to revive the career of Mathieu Debuchy, which is certifiably insane, yet, in an odd way, also somehow remarkably sane.

Mathieu Debuchy has been two things at Arsenal over the past few years. He has been the butt of thousands of jokes and he has been the subject of pity from thousands of fans. He has had absolutely no part to play in the club itself.

As such, and seeing as how things can get a bit lost in translation, people forgot about him and wrote him off as simply not good enough. But as some were always keen to remember, that was simply never the case.

Debuchy was such a solid right back before an injury gave the open door to Hector Bellerin, who never looked back. From there, Debuchy just never had the right cards to play. He was always hurt or buried behind Bellerin and the most he could manage were a couple of loan rumors to France and playing with the U23s.

It was not a situation that he wanted to be in and he expressed this stance rather frequently. Why Arsene Wenger never sold him is beyond anyone’s comprehension.

But now we may have an answer, or, at the very least, Wenger wants it to look that way. Here’s what he had to say about Debuchy, via SkySports:

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"“Maybe his future is as a centre-back. He has the attributes because, despite his size, he’s very good in the air. You think he couldn’t play centre-back because he’s not tall, but if you look at the number of balls he wins in the air, it’s impressive.”"

Wow. That’s one hell of a revelation. All of a sudden, a frozen out right back has a future at center back. To anyone that has not been paying attention to Debuchy’s return, that’s certifiably insane, but to anyone that has watched, you’re probably having a similar reaction to me – a subtle nod and deep contemplation.

Debuchy has been playing in the side competitions this year and he has been a positive performer, namely in the air, as Wenger has pointed out. The only negative word that I have used to describe him is “rusty.”

The way I described it in his first appearance with the team, he looked like a quality defender who hasn’t been asked to play in over a year.

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That will all get shaken off. If we can get Debuchy back to where he was when he first arrived at Arsenal, wouldn’t you take that? He can be like the right-sided Nacho Monreal. But first things first, let’s see him on Thursday.

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