New Arsenal signing Francis Coquelin has spoken about all aspects of his transfer to the Gunners, in an interview with French newspaper Laval – Maville. It was conducted last week, the day before he travelled to London for a medical before signing a long term contract.
Everything started earlier in the year, whilst Coquelin was in action for France Under 17’s, during their qualifying period for the Under 17 European Championships. Wenger watched the prospect perform and was hugely impressed, before personally phoning the youngster and inviting him on trial.
“After the Elite Tournament [In Israel] , Mr Wenger called me and asked me to come to London to carry out a test with Arsenal. I accepted, and he showed me the facilities of the club and informed me what life would be like in North London. He told me i would be involved with the Reserves team. ”
Naturally Francis was instantly delighted with the club setup, however there were other offers on the table from Nantes, Lyon, Rennes, Le Havre and Lorient. Wenger applied no pressure to the youngster and told him the final decision was up to him.
“The infrastructures and facilities were impressive. But it was especially the idea to work with Mr Wenger which consolidates my choice. I am undoubtedly sure that going to Arsenal will be the best thing for my progression. ”
Despite a thigh injury ending his trial spell early, Arsenal were still interested and made a formal contract offer to the player. He was given time to make his decision, before settling on a move to the Gunners. It was then put to the confident youngster that leaving France at such an early age would be a bad move, something he quickly rebuffed.
“No, Arsenal is perfect for young players and my parents are fine with the agreement that i can leave”
It is expected Coquelin will live in digs in London, however there is the possibility he could be joined by his parents. His transfer to the club is free as his scholarship deal with Stade Lavallois had expired last month, but Arsenal will be donating €1 million Euro’s in compensation, to aid Laval’s Academy in the future.
Article By – J.Sanderson
Another youngster to join our growing collection cant believe how many young talented guys we’ve got in from around the world. I just hope the local lads Wilshere, Lansbury etc still get there chance but im sure they will hopefully the extra competition will give them motivation.
Sounds like a win-win situation for all three parties, Arsenal, Laval and Coquelin.
Good job, Wenger.
i wonder why arsenal are the only big club who was intrerested in him.. why didnt real, barca, milan want him?
lets just hope nasri and ramsey think the same
How classy is Arsenal?
Seriously, we get him for free but we still donate money to them.
I very much doubt we will get Ramsey as we dont need him we already have enough talented youngsters as it is. Im just hoping that Nasri does join
I agree Joshua, its just those little touches which mean we get the best talents and others dont.
People say Arsenal are poor, yet we have money to give away? Hmm
i wonder why arsenal are the only big club who was intrerested in him.. why didnt real, barca, milan want him?
classysweden said this on May 26, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Classysweden, That’s because their scouting network is not as solid and widespreead as Arsenal’s, big clubs in France were interested in him and that’s good enough for me. No big club was interested in Clichy before he came to Arsenal, see where he is today………keep the faith!
He was injured before the U17 tournament meaning that although he was known in France he was still unknown outside of France except for Arsene Wenger and his trusted eagle eye scouts.
Also, the rules in France means that Laval not being in the two top divisions, he does not have to sign his first professionnal contract with them.
The Arsenal payment is just to avoid the court of arbitration that would have decided the amount owned to the club that formed him.
He is at leadst two years away from the first team, where Lansbury, wilshere, Randall will be part of the first team this season.
With the premisership changing his rule to allow seven substitutes next season compared to only five this year, AW will be able to name a fringer player or youngster for the bench and use them if the game is already decided.
With regard to Nasri, the problem is Nasri’s agent JP Bernes. When Arsene Wenger was Monaco’s coach, he lost championship to Marseille. At the time, there was always strong suspicion that Marseille had bought some games depriving Monaco of their righful titles. When it was proven that Marseille had bought the Marseille vs Valenciennes game prior, the main guilty man was JP Bernes.
Since, it has been written that AW refused to negotiate anything with JP Bernes and that the deal had been negotiated directly with some Marseille repreentative and member of Nasri family rather than JP Bernes$. Some French newspaper mentionned that he had not even been allowed inside thehe club’s compound.
Surely Wenger wouldn’t publicly state the Nasri transfer unless it was as good as done?
Or am I being too hopeful?
It’s very unlike Arsene to comment publicly on a deal before it’s signed and sealed. Just because it’s ‘likely’ we shouldn’t jump to conclusions.
Interesting stuff from Valentin, if that’s true then there’s the reason for the delay.
Anyone know who our new, dominant centre half is going to be? I’d love Micah Richards myself – and he’s a gooner.
Great site JS, keep up the good work fella.
We get the best talents? What happened with Cristiano Ronaldo then? And i’m sure there’s many other great players that Wenger’s missed out on. And I know Vidic wasn’t that young when he signed for utd but Wenger’s scouting network can’t be that wonderful seeing as he didn’t even make an offer for him. How many of the supposedly ‘talented young players’ have actually made an impact in the first team in the last 2 years apart from Walcott? How long will we have to wait for these young players to develop, another 3-4 years until they’ll be ready to play in the premiership? and then they’ll still need a couple of years to adapt. And even when they’ve been given years to adapt to the english style some still underperform like Senderos. I can’t see many living up to the fans expectations and what’s with Wenger buying all these 9stone 5ft 8in players, can’t he see that we need physically and mentally strong players. Or are we just trying to assemble the smallest midfield of all time or something…Nasri, Fabregas, Walcott, all we need now is Makoun and we’ll have an invisible wall. Other teams will just walk through us. Instead of spending millions on youngsters who won’t be able to play in the first team for years to come, maybe he should use that money to buy proven players who can actually help us to win things now.
I’d love Richards too, although the price tag would be unbelievable. And he is a bit too similar to Gallas & Kolo.
What about nasri did we relly singed him or not. its supose to be on monday that the AFC web will conferm it ?
Gallas and Kolo will be our first choice pairing next season. Senderos strikes me as a confidence player – it’s a make or break season for him. And what of Djourou?
Woodgate would have been perfect…
What about Per Mertesacker? We could give Barcelona Hleb in exchange for him and thereby we save money for another signing later in the Summer…
That’s what I was thinking too, Spike. The Boss surely wouldn’t say something in public unless it was done and dusted! Or so I hope.
yo JS how comes Arsenal haven’t announced his transfer on the Arsenal website yet?
Neva seen him play but if Wenger likes him then he can’t be a bad signing, just in the reserves, which is a worry cuz theres lots of CMs in the reserves, although i believe Wilshire, Randall and Merida may be stepping up? Might have that wrong, especially about Wilshire, but im sure ive heard wenger say all three will be involved in the first team next season, there again that can just meen Carling Cup, and in Wilshire’s case it probably does.
Mertersacker plays for W Bremen. I’d would love to get someone with his height (1.98 m (6 ft 6 in)) in center defense. I haven’t seen enough of him to know if he’s good enough for Arsenal though.
Also, it feels good to support such a classy club.
Its just waiting for both clubs to announce the deal, could be anytime in the next week
oh kl. what you think about the rumours about EDU coming back on a season long loan?
seems either way he’s coming to england this summer, 7 prem clubs want him
including us
“People say Arsenal are poor, yet we have money to give away? Hmm”
well of course. if you’re too rich you would never donate anything to anyone. that’s what middle-class is for. not that i’m saying arsenal is middle class tho.
Any news on Nasri? I thought he was meant to sign today…
Its a Bank Holiday in England today so the deal is most likely to be confirmed tomorrow.
Lew, Arsene was interested in Ronaldo and had a bid accepted. word is it was about to go through but united came in and offered three times as much. no doubt the quieroz portugease connection helped as well. just like wengers helps us in france. and i have no doubt that wenger was aware of vidic. but just because you rate someone doesnt mean you buy them. there has to be a need for a player, especially if he is of an age were he would come straight into the first team squad. wenger has said before that he had an opportunity to get eto’o but at the time he had a strong selection of strikers so did not want to bring him in and unsettle the team. and for the record arsenal didnt once get out muscled this last year in midfield, which was relatively small in comparison to others. in fact our biggest weakness was long balls, ones which cut out the midfield completely.
His transfer to the club is free as his scholarship deal with Stade Lavallois had expired last month, but Arsenal will be donating €1 million Euro’s in compensation, to aid Laval’s Academy in the future.
—
This is classy. And I think planting seeds like this will help us very much in the future. If Laval have any more youngsters or potential stars we are interested in, this will put us in a very good position for getting them. But not just Laval, smaller clubs all around the world are gonna look at deals like this and see that we are interested in helping the development of players and clubs and will be more inclined to negotiate with us.
By the way, anyone think arse.com will announce Nasri tomorrow, it won’t happen. arsenal.com won’t announce a signing until the transfer window is open. For example, these kids aren’t on the website but they have ‘signed’.
Samuel//
Fabianski was announced in April last year if I remember it correct…
When does the transfer window officially open?
and JS, Nasris meant to sign when hes released from France training, whens that?
Matt//
1 July
Lew//
Come on, be realistic. You can’t get all the greatest talents in the world, it’s impossible.
posted this yesterday wrong info ty Jeorge
Jeorge Bird’s Arsenal Youth
Nacer Barazite- Russia 2 Netherlands 2
Nacer Barazite was on target as the Netherlands were held to a 2-2 draw by Russia in their opening game of the Elite Qualifying Round. After taking a touch, the highly rated youngster smashed the ball into the back of the net.The Netherlands take on Greece tomorrow looking for their first win in the qualifiers.
bulwark says : I absolutely agree with this !
moniker says : I absolutely agree with this !
Pingback: Nasri: “Deal 99% Done” « Gooner Talk