Francis Coquelin saved his Arsenal career in a 2-1 win away to West Ham two years ago and he will never forget it
Frenchman's career looked to be over at Arsenal before he was recalled from a loan spell at Charlton and the rest is history
FRANCIS COQUELIN will never forget the day he secured his football future for good — December 28, 2014.
Arsenal won 2-1 at West Ham that afternoon and, more than six years after his debut, French midfielder Coquelin was finally able to say he had won the approval of Arsene Wenger.
Prior to that breakthrough game Coquelin was tormented by insecurity and self-doubt over whether he belonged among such exalted company at the Emirates.
His first appearance in a 6-0 Carling Cup win over Sheffield United had long been forgotten but the memory of his Premier League debut — the humiliating 8-2 embarrassment at Manchester United — stuck in the memory of most Arsenal supporters.
No wonder fans were unimpressed when Wenger recalled Coquelin from a loan spell at Charlton to cover for the injured Mikel Arteta, Jack Wilshere and Abou Diaby.
The player himself was not exactly jumping for joy at that Emirates return two years ago.
Coquelin said: “Yes, I was angry. I was on the bench for the first few games and I didn’t understand why they had brought me back.
“I said to the manager, ‘I was playing every game at Charlton but now I’m back here and I’m not playing’.
“He said to me, ‘your chance will come, you’ll see’. But I’d go on for two or three minutes and I was thinking, ‘yes, is this my chance?’
“Then just after Christmas he put me in the line-up at West Ham, a match I wasn’t expecting to start, and that’s when things changed for me.”
Coquelin’s fierce display in that fevered Upton Park clash convinced Wenger of the value of having a holding midfielder.
Arsenal legend Thierry Henry called Coquelin “The Policeman” during his Sky commentary, which earned him the nickname Columbo.
Yet the biggest mystery he had to solve up to then was how to salvage his career after an unsuccessful loan spell in the Bundesliga with Freiburg.
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In an interview for , he said: “I had a really bad time in Germany and pretty much didn’t play in the second half of the season.
“I had a very complicated relationship with the coach. I think he had completely the wrong impression of me and it affected me deeply that he had such a negative opinion.
“I wanted to prove that I was stronger than he thought and that’s when something clicked for me psychologically.
“I thought I was strong but it was at Freiburg that I realised I could dig a lot deeper.
“Even though I wasn’t playing, I never gave up and I remember saying to my wife, ‘when I get back to Arsenal, I’m going to play’.
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Coquelin, now 25, earned a lucrative long-term deal last year. Yet even though he still gets the nod over £30million summer signing Granit Xhaka, Coquelin has no intention of letting it go to his head.
He added: “I’m not someone who seeks media exposure — I prefer to keep my private life private.
“The position I play isn’t really the most glamorous so a lot of what I do is in the background and doesn’t get a lot of attention.
“The ‘Policeman’ comment did make me laugh but it’s true — I’m a player who tries to break up counter-attacks and support the defence.
“I don’t know if I’m nasty, but I never give up and maybe that’s because of the journey I’ve had to get here.
“I try to be as effective as possible. Maybe it’s not pretty from the outside, but people within the club depend on me — and that suits me fine.”