According to the Daily Express, Napoli made a late bid for Arsenala s Francis Coquelin, but were immediately sent away.
Ever since his return from his loan spell, Coquelin has been in the best form of his career so far and got rave reviews for his performance against the champions Manchester City. Now, with his contract coming to an end, there was speculation that he might not sign an extension. However, Arsene Wenger has assured the fans that the Arsenal midfielder has been offered a better contract and is close to signing it.
That, of course, hasna t stopped clubs from sniffing around to see if a deal can be done. Rafa Benitez fancies the Frenchman and he put in a late bid to see if Arsenal would be willing to sell Coquelin if the price was right. However, Arsenal have rebuffed the offer and not even indicated that negotiations are welcome.
It will do well for Arsenal and Arsene Wenger to keep Coquelin at the club, especially as he seems to have improved by leaps and bounds. He definitely looks like the answer to Arsenala s midfield problems, and with Flamini playing badly and not showing any appetite to screen the back 4 as effectively as he should be, it looks like he has a future with the gunners.
In fact, he has been playing so well that even Arsenal legend and fellow Frenchman Thierry Henry has been full of praise for him.
Henry said: a For me the best thing (Arsenal have) done is bring Coquelin back from Charlton.
a Maybe if he hadna t come back and played the way he did recently, Arsene would have gone and bought a defensive midfeidler.
a He has been amazing, Arsenal dona t look like they will concede, they can score and he gave everyone protection everybody was talking about.
a Sometimes you look for that player and they are right in front of you. But the guy has matured, he went on loan, and knows he had to perform and he is doing it.a
He added: a What Coquelin does is allow you to go for the player you want in the summer, because in January you go for the player that is available.
a Coquelin allows Arsene to go for someone he really wants, or if Coquelin does the job really well, he can stay.”
All Coquelin needs to do now is to ensure that he converts this chance into a first team regular spot so that even if there is any signing in the summer, the boss will think twice before dropping him.