After a complicated summer transfer window, Francis Coquelin (33) has a timeline for finding another club. The man who won two FA Cups at Arsenal along with a Community Shield has been seeking a new team since Villarreal cut ties with him at the end of last season.
Coquelin says there has been interest from Ligue 1 sides in adding him to their squad, but according to him, Lille OSC decided to go with a different profile player, as did Montpellier HSC.
Speaking to L’Équipe, the 2020-21 UEFA Europa League champion has set a deadline as to when he hopes to find a club.
“I have the motivation, but if at the end of January, I’m not in a club that I’m interested in, we’re going to start asking questions,” says Coquelin.
An under-19 European champion with France in 2010, Coquelin spent eight seasons in North London with the Gunners before a loan spell in France at FC Lorient.
He featured in 24 Ligue 1 fixtures for them that season, with the 33-year-old playing the rest of his senior career in foreign leagues in Spain, Germany and England.
His first senior goal at club level came during his brief spell in Ligue 1, while he has only netted five times in his senior club career.
The defensive midfielder has never been called up to the French senior squad despite featuring for a number of their youth teams. Before joining the Arsenal academy, Coquelin was a part of the youth setup at Stade Lavallois from 2005-2008.
Despite failing to find a club during the summer transfer window, Coqeulin says that he isn’t disappointed, noting that plenty of big names were not signed as well.
