Arsenal: Grading January transfer window moves

Selling Francis Coquelin for £12 million – B

Something that Arsenal have struggled with for many years in the transfer market is being able to sell players for the peak of their value. There has been a variety of reasons for this, from mismanagement of contracts to untimely injuries, from poor, unwise negotiating to undeserved loyalty, but, for whatever reason, consistently, Arsenal have not sold well. That changed in this window.

The first instance was Francis Coquelin’s £12 million departure to Valencia. The central midfielder had seen his role significantly reduced thanks to proven fitness of Jack Wilshere throughout the opening few months of the season. As such, he clearly did not feature in Wenger’s plans anymore. To get £12 million for that type of player is good business.

I would have rated this higher, but the only issue is that I still feel Coquelin, given his unique skill set that is unlike any other midfielder in the squad, could have provided a nice steely balance during the remaining months of the year. However,  Wenger thought otherwise, I cannot quibble all that much in disagreement.