Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny has been full of praise for teammate Francis Coquelin, the midfielder who has been lauded for his impressive performances since coming into the side and adding fantastic stability and balance to the middle of the park.
In December, Coquelin was recalled by Wenger (to his displeasure) and quickly established himself as a key member of the side, with his performance at the Boleyn Ground against West Ham United the start of his run in the side.
Following that included impressive performances against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium, and QPR away where Coquelin completed 89% of his passess and made all six of his attempted tackles successfully. The 24 year-old also started against Aston Villa in the FA Cup final and was a huge reason why Aston Villa were so poor on the counter attack, with Coquelin cutting out any potential threat on occasion after occasion, frustrating the likes of Fabian Delph and Jack Grealish.
With Coquelin being named Arsenal’s second best Player of the Season by the fans, Szczesny admitted that the former Freiburg man was always the best in training.
“I’ve been here with Francis for seven years and we’ve always seen amazing potential,” the Gunners shot stopper old Arsenal Player.
“Every time out there on the training field he was always the best player, back in the under-18s or the reserves.
“He was something special. His desire, his workrate and his ability to make tackles and interceptions is something incredible. I was quite surprised by how late Francis made his breakthrough.
“I know it’s very difficult to come into a team like Arsenal at quite a young age but I was quite surprised by it. I was expecting him to do it much sooner. So I’m delighted for him.
“He’s made the biggest impact this season. Since he came in, we look really solid defensively. He’s not a flash player, he doesn’t like to go past people. He doesn’t get assists and he doesn’t score many goals, but the work he does for the team is incredible.”
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