As Young Guns confirmed last week, Arsenal recently invited Stade Lavallois’s France Under 17 International Francis Coquelin on a 7 day trial. But during his time in North London he picked up a thigh injury, which cut short his spell with the club and he subsequently returned to France.
It seemed at the time that his injury would rule out any chance of Arsenal taking up any further interest, but French news agency L’Équipe have since admitted that the player is currently in contract negotiations with the club, and the deal is expected to be completed in the coming week.
His signature will prove to be a significant coup for the Gunners, as some of the biggest teams in France including Marseille, Lyon, and Nantes have all made enquires for the prospect, but the lure of Arsene Wenger’s impressive youth policy seems to have attracted the young Frenchman, who lists Steven Gerrard as his ultimate hero.
Coquelin is a rugged, strong and aggressive defensive midfielder. Blessed with a super passing range as well as all the combative qualities you would expect from a holding central player. With James Dunne expected to be released during the summer, he will be seen as Dunne’s direct replacement for the Under 18’s and Reserve sides.
Francis turned 17 two months ago so should he settle quickly in London and impresses, he could even feature in the forthcoming Carling Cup campaign. His capture would also be the second player that has been scouted and signed by Gilles Grimandi in consecutive seasons. Further backing up Arsene Wenger’s faith in his former player who played the same position as Coquelin.
One of the French websites which also run the story, claims that he will be Arsenal’s first signing this summer with the second Marseille play maker Samir Nasri. It is yet unclear of the final verdict on other trialists Nikos Karelis and Sean McDermott, but it is expected both players will not be signed.
Article By – J.Sanderson
Good news. In all honestly not sad to see Dunne go.
What happened to McDermott I thought he was a good prosepct?
Very good news mate.. i cant wait for all the comments sayings “oh another kid”
McDermott wants to stay in Norway until he finishes school,
Did he play in the Euro’s with Sunu?
and would he be able to play in Youth Cup?
Also which other players are too old for it this season?
He was named in the squad, but he injury he got on trial with us ruled him out. Yes he could play in the youth cup as he is only 17, its a under 19 competition.
No such comment from me J, i appreciate we need to strenghten our first team squad now, but we cannot lose sight of our future. Sounds like a great prospect, and a strong midfielder. i hope we secure his signature and will look forward to seeing him along with many of the others, a list too long to type, play at some stage in the CC/FA Cup
Our future is very sound
Sanderson,
You do not have any update regarding Luke Freedman’s development at the club, if possible?
Good news – short/long term Wenger is on top of it.
Any news regarding Luke Freedman’s development?
Its Freeman mate.
He has had a good start to life so far, but towards the end of the season he tailed off badly, and was left out of the End of season play off’s.
thank U J.S 4 update
J.Sandeson, I enjoy your site a lot since you have a lot of news that no one knows about, as if you are already in the club and work with U18 team.
But I’ve been disappointed in you for sometime now, since I asked you some qusetions before and you didn’t even bother to reply.
like when I asked you: who would you think will be a better buy Samir Nasri or Mordic?
Did you reach the phase that you are bigger than anyone else and others opinions and questions are not important if you say so?
IF my mistake was to value your opinion that much then sorry about that.
Many people ask me questions Reyes, and its difficult to answer them all. If you have anything which you want me to answer that i miss then e-mail me.
I dont think i am better than anyone else, and as you can see above i have answered other peoples questions.
In response to your earlier question, i prefer Samir Nasri to Modric, he is more creative a better passer and younger.
Ya J, why aren’t you at the beak and call of Reyes, poor little reyes is feeling a little bit left out. My heart bleeds for you reyes.
Look this is a excellent site and truly orignal, grow up and LEARN to appreciate a good thing.
By the way reyes are you 6, probably not but god you have a childish attuide.
J. Sanderson – top work
lol Reyes. Chill out, Im sure Sanderson has a life outside this blog and may not have times to answer every single query thats posted in the comments section.
Dont take it so personaly.
if this kid is signed would you expect lansbury to be loaned out?
Well thanks J.Sanderson for the making things more clearer, I appreciated it.
And for you arsenalviper, I think that I am at least twice your age so chill out.
Anyway its still nice to be a gooner.
I rarely watch our reserves’ games and, thus, never saw Dunne play but according to match reports, he hardly ever does anything special. Wenger need to bring in as much of these talents as he can so that we can have enough pool of telended youngsters to choose from instead of spilling milions of pounds on Quaresmas & co. The only thing he need to get handle of is the compensation part. The club must wake, smell the coffee and realise that, unfortunately money runs our lives this days. Since we don’t usually buy our players at exorbintant prices, we should then make sure that their wages are at least not too far behind the Milans, Manures, Madrids, etc so that they have lesser temptations and distractions.
People complains when Wenger brings in this boys but in my view they are very short sighted or just plain stupid.Do these people support Arsenal for the rest of their lives or is it just for one season? Because if they were gunners for life then they would understand that Wenger is busy with a project (which is still in its infancy). The idea is not simply to have a bunch of kids running around and attempting some fancy football. The idea is to develop this bunch into a unit that will dominate Europe for decades.And since the begining, it was clear that it was gonna take some years of trials and errors.IMO this team is far ahead of schedule and I give them one more season to perfect the beat. I will only be disapointed if its, say 2010, and the project is not showing any signs of yielding any fruits(then we can ambadon our plans and opt for buying ready made stars at Zillions and Zillions of pounds burdening our club with mountain high debts that will make many of you to kneel down your knees and beg for daddy Usmanov’s take over) .The Manures suceeded and got where they are today precisely because of this method.
Think about it throughly!!
I doubt that Lansbury’s loan depends upon if this kid is signed or not. In my opinion, Lansbury should not play another season in the reserves. Either loan him out or use him in the first team. When Fabregas was the same age he was the MoM against Juve (sorry for all the Cesc comparisons :))
I’m really glad that if we sign him we can get rid of James Dunne, what an awful player. How many red cards has he got? He scored a nice goal this year though.
Gotta say that I’ve been reading this site for a little while now (thru Newsnow link) and out of all the sites this seems to be the most informed (albeit about the youth team obviously) and least sensationalist (if that’s the word i actually mean). Well done and keep up the good work (Also make sure you answer Reyes’ questions straight away!!! Haha)
J Sanderson, I was wondering where you get your information from? I’m sure by saying so you’ll probably give up your main source, but I recount the stories from this site to my mates and they’re very cynical and are always looking for third party verification. I believe you’re pretty reliable, but I was wondering if you could give us a shout as to how you get this info.
Cheers
Will
Thanks (Neal S), I got your point.
Which players will be playing in the u19 championships this season?
Gibbs is in the Englanh squad for the qualifiers, i cant understand how Randall isnt in it though.
Merida’s going
reyes, fuck off!
I Appreachate your support guys, no need to tell him to fuck off mate. Armand Traore, Nacer Barazite should all play in that tournament.
J.
Any news on Lansbury’s fitness and whether he’s set for a loan deal or not?
RED AND WHITE ARMY FOREVER
Top site and top posts J. Sanderson. I definitely pick your links off the Newsnow Arsenal page and give it serious consideration. When you as well as BBC Sport report that Nasri is on the verge, I’m starting to believe :-)
Is there anything substantial behind these Veloso rumours btw, or is it all bollocks?
Cheers, Karl.
heard that barazite is off to ajax on loan… is it true?
In 2005 when Vieira was injured AW surprised everyone by playing Cesc in the opening premiership games alongside Gilberto. He has never lost his place since.
Of the seemingly endless list of promising youngsters, which is most likely to make this leap?
WE got -+£100 mil fr naming Emarity stadiam we made good money fr selling flats, we make over £3mil per home game.Hw come we still poor we can`t pay our young players well.4years gone no cup now the young boys r good then we loose them to big clubs r we now a feeder club .If we cant pay top wages this will happen 2 us.Come on A wenger pay rhis boy well then we can go on to b kings of football
Reyes needs therapy haha
don’t get to upset sweetheart you would wna leave the country like another reyes we know haaaa
hey tell me isnt modric a defensive midfielder? i really feel we will buy nasri + defensive midfielder + center back. tell me cant landsbury or randall play as a defensive midfielder? isnt anyone else capable of making the cut in cb and dm role. please answer!
Modric is a play maker Stanley. Barazite it seems could go onloan, but nothing is confirmed yet.
I always thought that Lansbury was a Cesc type player but JS said earlier that he was a defensive midfielder. I guess Lansbury had played all year instead of Dunne if he hadn’t been kissing so many girls (jk).
Again good to get a DM to the club, we look short in that area. We have good young GK and lot of attacking players but Nordveit seems to be our only real prospect in defence. Bartley might be too if he can get out of those injury troubles.
Allow me thank Wenger for leading in gromming young boys like cecs,Henry among others. So i urged him this time round to bring inn some expirence players in midfeld to help Fabrigas,one in the defence and another on the striking line.And the captain should be changed to Toure or Fabrigas.
JS. Have you heard anything about this Jeremy Helen kid? http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/sport/arsenal/arsenalnews/display.var.2284346.0.gunners_beaten_by_united_to_signing_of_french_wonderkid.php
I had never heard of him before so I have no idea if he even exists.
Good site sanderson, very intresting and nice to know what the youngplaleyrs at our club are about altho i know quite a bit as im a very keen supporter, personalyl ive herd this story the person who told me aint most reliable but he was at the PFA awards not long ago and hes got pics and a pass to prvoe he went so i know he did apprnatly he had a chat with couple of our players and apprantlt david dein and hes mob are buying us out very soon and that we are going for micah richards, richards is happy at city but will only give it one more seaon but noly team he will elave for this season is arsenal as hes an arsenal fan but he iant gonna wait for us too long so apprantly were lodging bid of 25mil for him also hleb will join inter milan as jose mourinho wants him there for when he takes over and we have agreed a fee of 16.5 mil for him, we are using that money to help purchase the 3 players wenger wants who are richards, nasri it seems now altho my mate told me ben arfa deal was done as dein ws going to complete it ut this cud have been screen for nasri, but the one that shocks me the most is the return of our very own thierry as there was a clause in hes contract that said if he didnt make a certian amount of appernaces when fit we cud buy him back for 60per cent of wat we sold him for so about 9 million, erm this cud be rubish but for some reason my source is adament hes teliing me the truth wat u think of this
Great site, keep up the good work. Any news about Ben Arfa? Seems Nasri is on his way here but if you have to choose one of them, which one will it be and why?
Whats the latest with the Ajax link J?
Stone, are Hoyte, Rodgers, Blackwood et al not looking like great prospects at the moment?
Gooneriffic. I don’t know much about Blackwood but it would surprise me a lot if Hoyte or Rodgers ever make their League debut at Arsenal. Hoyte is the same age as Nordveit and Rodgers is a year older. As Sanderson has said before, Rodgers will most likely be released in the summer. I’m guessing Hoyte might stay another year or go on a loan. He is a true Gunner so maybe he stays way too long like his brother. But IMO neither of them has any future at Arsenal.
Hmm. Where does this leave Frimpong? I have big hopes for that kid.
That’s a shame, at least they will hopefully be able to swell the ranks of our academy graduates playing professional football in the lower leagues or the rest of the premiership.
I heard G.Hoyte is the quickest at Arsenal over certain distances, but I think his postional awareness and concentartion needs improveing.
Wasnt Hoyte in the England team for the U17 championships – with Lansbury and AN Other – I know that may not mean anything but…..
Barazite is prob my fave reserve and I really hope he does not go on loan. I think he can offer the first team something next season. if he was to go somewhere, I’d hope it was to play EVERY week but only til Christmas, then I want him in the Arsenal team.
“he did apprnatly he had a chat with couple of our players and apprantlt david dein and hes mob are buying us out very soon”
Thats proof enough your m8 is full of it. Its not impossible but there is no way such financially sensitive information would be discussed there. Unless they were taking the piss out of him.
Another youngster coming in on trial, 16 year old Ghanaian midfielder Tawrick Jibril
Tawrick Jibril
SAnderson according to another blog were takin another kid on trial a ghanain, is it true and if so where does he play nd what is he like?
Amusing that you posted that directly beneath my last post gooner 123
Supposedly coming for a trial in June, apart form the fact he is a midfielder I know jack all about his footballing style and ability.
you know J.Sanderson i really feel muamba the DM we had would have been vital for us. could have saved us some money in the market. i really dont fell except for song anyone can fill the role. even song i feel is too slow for that position. we have to dip in the market. i really have a feeling Havard Nordtveit will have a bit part role next season.i feel this season we will buy two young DM cause we lack that at the moment. lastly have we really signed nasri? how much time will it take to come on arsenal.com? thanks J.Sanderson for answering me. i am greatful to u. are u pursuing football as a career?
Guy,
Just wanted to drop a note from a 47yr old ex pat Gooner, that this is a quality site and has some outstanding info’ on it. Keep up the great work. It’s much appreciated.
Muamba is a good player, but his technique isn’t up to Arsenal scratch, thats why he was let go in the first place.
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Cheers for the nice comments guys, i feel that Muamba never really showed any true promise here, he is a very simple passer and some aspects of his game are very poor indeed.
Agree with you J.S. on Muamba, big, strong and a good tackler, but his passing leaves a lot to be desired.
Very true mate, btw i have added your link to the blogroll
does anyone no anything about the ghanian player we have given a trail to
His name is Tawrick Jibril.. more info:
http://goonertalk.wordpress.com/2008/05/20/youngster-handed-gunners-trial/
great news from J again… I am honestly jealous of you J ..will like to know where you get all this information from or are you a Journalist ???
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Any update on Ben Afra, it all seems to have gone on the back burner
Ben Arfa? He isn’t coming to Arsenal, everyone seems to have an obsession with him coming!
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i just hope wenger gets us a trophy next season
sanderson do you think that lansbury can play in the DM role next to fabregas
feel sorry for the lad, might get cursed because of his name:
Cock Well-in
we need big names at arsenal football
It’s a great player, he’s in my school. Woawww, Arsenal want to him, good new..
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HENRY FIGHT FOR BAC FOR ARSENAL YOU JUST CANT MAKE IT NOW WE ARE SORRY
does any1 know if rumours we are going to sign dabo and matuidi from french team st ettiene are true. if so are they good?