Arsenal have finally announced the signing of Francis Coquelin from Stade Lavallois, and confirmed the 17 year old will be on professional forms.
Young Guns first revealed news of Coquelin after the young defensive midfielder came on trial during the summer, and even though he picked up a thigh injury, the Gunners pressed home their interest and offered him a four year contract.
Nantes, Lyon, Rennes, Le Havre and Lorient also made offers, but Francis admitted that the Arsène Wenger influence swayed his decision. After completing his transfer in late May, he was forced to remain in France to undertake his exams, but returned to London two weeks ago for pre-season.
The French Under 17 International will be a regular for the Reserves during the coming season, and has been handed the number 59 shirt. All of the Under 18’s and Reserves have squad numbers, although the possibility of Coquelin featuring in the Carling Cup is very real.
You can see a picture of Francis at training Here.
Article By – J.Sanderson
J why the fuck bischoff transfer ain’t moving anywhere?
welcome Coquelin…
The Bischoff deal is alll but done, we just need to wait for the UEFA Tribunal to decide the compensation ammount.
What possitions will we streghten in the reserves
do you know any other numbers? thanks, dave
sanderson can u tell me what is up with the kakauta n franco di santo transfer are dey still cumin
j lets say we do sign amaury biscoff. Can you work out the average age of our first team squad.
Are you sure that his number will be 59? I know that Coquelin has been pictured wearing a training kit numbered with 59, but I saw a picture of Vela wearing a number 15 training top, and I’ve seen other younger players wearing assorted numbers.
Congrats on the six months by the way, J.!
Arsenal fan, Franco di Santo signed for Chelsea in January.
you’re correct Wrighty, those training session numbers don’t mean anything for young players.
we should play this coquelin alongside fabregas straight away. no messing about as he is the real deal and the likes of diaby and denilson can sit and watch from the stands.
There is no tribunal with the Bischoff transfer as he is out of contract at Werder and currently unattached, so he is free to sign for whoever he wishes.
internet gooner im nt stupid i know dis if u followed arsenal u would know kakuta n di santo were gna join arsenal from chelsea this summer do ur research
kakuta and di santo to arsenal story was a hoax arsenal fan.
Bischoff will be very good. But we must buy at least one midfilder (I hope, it will be Xabi Alonso or Veloso), and one striker.
BARNET BOSS SAID HE WOULD LIKE TO TAKE BARAZITE AND RODGERS ONLOAN IF HE CAN
Turning to Saturday, what do you make of the Arsenal team that will be on show?
I have seen the squad and it is mostly made up of younger players. There are young established first-team players there. I noticed that Nacer Barazite is in the squad; he is a player I have seen, a player I admire, and one I certainly think would benefit from a spell in the Football League. He is a very interesting character and reminds me a lot of Berbatov in his style of play. There is a lot of interesting young players at Arsenal, another one is Paul Rodgers who I think is down to play. He has impressed me. It is a strong side for Saturday and will be a very interesting contest
He’ll have it tough to make it to the first team as there is the likes of Lansbury, Thomas, and Wilshere to compete with.
If Wenger doesn’t sign a world class holding midfielder, Fabregas will be the next wanting to leave because he is completely isolated. He can’t do everything and play 50 games again. Diaby, Denilson, Bischoff, Song, – none are in his class to partner him in midfield. He’s already lost his 2 best mates at the club, he must be questioning himself now.
Super_Gooner, i saw those comments too, but i don’t think Barazite or Rodgers would benefit from playing at that level, they need to be playing championship football if they decide to go out on loan..
what do u guys think?
Jake – Cesc’s best friend at the club is Philippe Senderos. Has been since day one.
Barazite I believe at the moment , will need a championship team build up his physic .I believe Rodgers will be a carling cup contender definatley
The number he wears in training isn’t always the number he has in real life, I saw Henry wearing 72 one time, and Fabregas 6..
*27 I mean :D
Jake Diaby and Song can easily do the job beside Cesc. IF Song couldnt how come he managed to get into the ACN team ahead of players like Essien?
JOHN V – Song got into the squad playing at centre back in the acon – Wenger has already said he will not be playing him in midfield, stating that he will become a very important central defender for the club.
I do not think Cesc will be looking to leave and should either Hleb or Flamini have a poor season or fail to settle then I think this will play to our advantage as he has already seen some great players leave and not enjoy their football – Henry, Cole and Reyes spring to mind.
I would still expect a central midfielder to come in as Wenger said he wanted to strengthen the small squad we had and he has lost 34 players from this and only brought in 2 (3 if you count vela)
where did u get the info from about arsenal confirming this deal? please someone leave the link..
other squad numbers for the young players please? if Coquelin has 59, what about Randall and lansbury etc?
great site
me, you really are a pillock. This bloke is “the real deal”. have you bought him on champ manager then you stupid sod?
C. Harding,
It’s on Arsenal.com, but you have to go to the RESERVE section.
C.Harding:
http://www.arsenal.com/article.asp?thisNav=news&article=494064&cpid=703&title=Coquelin%20signs%20professional%20terms
I think u will find Song did play at CDM in ACN as i watched it. He has played CB for Arsenal last season but didnt play there for Cameroon his uncle played at CB!!
Me was being sarcastic, Dave. But Me is a bit of a dick, so, yeah. Kevin, why don’t YOU work out the average age instead of asking J?
Never heard of him so i can’t pass judgement.
on another topic i think Thorsten frings should be the man to replace flamini because of his tackling and passing abilities also his experience. But i feel Diaby will get the nod. And song did play at cb and was named as a defender in the team of the championships.
cheers nin!
Not always are the numbers correct on the shirts, but from the training videos everybody has been wearing the correct numbers so far.
I think this boy could be a high prospect for us, even though he played in a small team, he still made it into the French Under 19 team.
J, there seem to be some raps on Rodgers at the moment. We know Nordtveit is expected to be a special player. Can you tell me your views on some of the other young defenders – Bartley, Blackwood, Steer, and Ogogo – how you rate them and the likelihood of any of them becoming first team regulars. Is there anyone else near Nordtveit class?
We are not so privledged at the back in the youth team, Nordtveit is something very special, and Paul Rodgers i probably the next best.
One thing i have noticed, when Paul plays as a full back, NOBODY gets past him. He is strong, quick, energetic, and plays with his heart, even though he is a Tottenham fan!
Yeah, I guess the talent at the back is ok, but not outstanding. If we can start to back up the first team defence with guys like Nordtveit, Song, Traore, and maybe Rodgers, that’s pretty good. I’m hoping more of the English talent will start to mature among the defenders over the next couple of years.
Thanks JS! I just wonder what this kid’s like – a workaholic DM, or a sit-back DM, or a box-to-box midfielder?
Lou – I think he is a defensive mid as i heard they are comparing him to Makelele (not sure though).
J, you say…”I think this boy could be a high prospect for us, even though he played in a small team, he still made it into the French Under 19 team.”….now i aint seen him play before but if this is true then i GUARANTEE he is a special talent. France have one of the best youth systems going right now and if he is getting into a squad TWO years above his age group, while plying his trade in the third division, then we might be in for a very pleasant surprise with this one…it’s common sense. I hope he aint injury prone though.
P.S. I’m 150% sure ALEXANDRE played in def mid and RIGOBERT played CB for Cameroon in ANC. Alex Song got the def mid spot in the dream team for the tournament and missed the semi’s against Egypt (i think) through injury or suspension and they looked very fragile defensively and got beat. I was immensely impressed with him (very mature performances) and if i was a betting man i would say he gets that midfield spot next year even though his chances have taken a knock with the fact he’s representing Cameroon at the Olympics.
J. I still think Arsenal need a world class central defender… Kompany…. Any chance?
Song played central midfield. i was at the ACON covering it for Reuters.
Also, he was names in the best xi, but as a midfielder.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_African_Cup_of_Nations#Best_XI
They lost in the final to Egypt, ironically losing their way when Song went off during the match. That’s why he only played the last 8 games or so of our season because he got injured at the ACON like Toure.
We need at least another two midfielders – we’ve lost three now, and even though we got Coquelin and Ramsey, we built a great rapport with our midfield, and have now lost three of them. Diaby WILL be class, but he needs to learn how to tackle. Wenger has only deployed him as a left winger. as for Ramsey, we need to wait and see!
why cant Wenger just spend that 11.9 million on a decent defensive midfielder? Get Gareth Barry for crying out loud!
I thought that the club had released Kerrea Gilbert, but I see that he’s on loan again, this time with Leicester City. Are we still going to keep him on or just loan him out every season? And the same goes for Vincent van Den Berg, what does the future hold for him?
he cant be flamini’s replacement. wenger is not serious at all.DAMN!
J. – I went to school with Paul Rodgers, he was definitely a United fan! Either way, it’s not a good team to support.
Song very definitely did play CM in the ACoN, I watched his games (and others).
He had an injury which he carried into the final, and had to be be subbed off.
are we gonna sign Falcao or not?
Falcao has signed for the Arsenal in SOuth America.
Song did play in CDM.
Coquelin is very talented, however he may not yet last 90 minutes of the frenzy premiership. The Carling Cup is where he will play this year. Maybe toward the end of the season he may be introduced for the last couple of minutes. The same way Randall was introduced at Sunderland.
Barazite is wanted by Salamanca on loan for the season.
Song will play as a CB. He has the highest jumping ability at the club, but needs more games to gain possitional experience. He is also a 50:50 chalanger and does not sit back and sweep like galas and co. I would prefer Song as back up and would like wenger to buy a john terry/tony adams mould defender who reads the game well, goes for the 50:50 tackles and commands the defence. Also we need a utility full back that can cover both left and right back as we always suffer when short in this area. It may be just me but wouldn’t it be a good idea to cut down the number of crosses into our box from good ready made full backs rather than inexperience back up cover when we have injuries, as we normally loose these games?
Yeah the person ‘me’ is a real dick, just ignore anything he posts, does the same on other Aresnal forums.
any idea when the bischoff-compensation will be done…. damn long already