Francis Coquelin completes £10.6m Valencia transfer, confirms Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger
Gunners are believed to have banked a £12m fee for a player who was in his tenth year on the club's books
ARSENE WENGER has confirmed that Francis Coquelin has left Arsenal to join Valencia.
The Gunners are believed to have banked a £12million fee for a player who was in his tenth year on the club's books.
The Liga giants have swooped and have handed Coquelin a four-and-a-half year deal amid interest from West Ham and Crystal Palace for the 26-year-old midfielder.
When asked if Coquelin had gone following the Gunners goalless Carabao Cup clash with Chelsea, Wenger simply replied: "Yes".
Coquelin joined from French side Stade Lavallois in 2008 and went on to make 159 appearances for Arsenal.
After previous loan spells at Lorient and Freiburg, he came back from Charlton in 2014 and briefly looked the enforcer Arsene Wenger was missing.
He made 29 Premier League appearances last season but the Gunners struggled as they failed to qualify for the Champions League for the first time in 21 years.
This season he found himself behind Granit Xhaka, Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere in Wenger's thoughts, starting just one Prem match.
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Coquelin departs with FA Cup winners' medals for in 2015 and 2017 - and may be heading back to the Champions League.
Valencia are third in La Liga and eight points clear of fifth-placed Sevilla.
Los Che boss Marcelino has also confirmed that he would like to sign Portuguese winger Goncalo Guedes from Paris Saint-Germain permanently.
He said: "I would sign him and I want him here permanently, but that’s not my job.
"He is a fantastic player with lots of potential still to come, he is a joy to coach and he is a good teammate for all our players and he works very hard.
"But my information on the club signing him is that I do not have information!"