Could Francis Coquelin be the next Gilberto Silva?

Back in the summer of 2002, a rather un-Brazilian Brazilian arrived at Arsenal Football Club. His style of play was never flouted with any of those fancy flicks, tricks or samba skills we have come to associate with his countrymen; though, he will forever be remembered for the way in which he graced our shores with such a calmed elegance, confident solace and a grace which very few defensive midfielders have been able to emulate since. And, the rest as they say was history...

Fast forward nine years, though, and we are now in 2011 with a whole new generation of young guns ready to take the stage. While the current crop has had some notable apples that just weren't quite ripe enough, one of the juiciest picks of the bunch has to French defensive midfielder Francis Coquelin. Those who follow Arsenal's reserve and youth teams week-in-week-out, will be in no doubt of this boy’s talent. Composed, resilient and assured on the pitch, sound familiar yet?

Fresh from his man of the match performance against Tottenham, Francis will feel that this is a new beginning for him after a painful encounter at Old Trafford. Having played for his native France at every youth level, he will be looking to make himself a regular for club and country. While Coquelin is primarily very much a defensive midfielder, his versatility means that it certainly wouldn't be a surprise to see him deployed at right-back in the coming months with Bacary Sagna out of the side with a fractured fibula.

The media always like to compare upcoming players, but could Francis Coquelin really be the next Gilberto Silva? Time will be the telling tale in this story, but Francis is very much his own player and should rightly be judged on his own merit. He has a fantastic future ahead of him and with the likes of Emmanuel Frimpong and Coquelin himself coming through the ranks, the future of Arsenal's defensive midfield looks as promising as ever before.

WTTGT Writer: Jay James Waller

Comments

[rex]

I watched the Tottenham game and I was like wow!!..the boy will be good,I propose we change to 4-2-3-1..with Coqueilin and Song the two Holding midfielders

[EIE]

Hope he's better than Gilberto who was to be honest no better than Denilson.

[DENCH]

no better than denilson? are you mental? for a start gilberto regularly played for brazil and won the world cup. he was also VITAL to our invincibles team, and was sorely missed when he was out for months with a back injury. denilson on the other hand wasnt even signed as a holding mid. before you chat rubbish, at least start to understand football and AFC. totally agree with the blog, gilberto was the most elegant cdm EVER. i dont think coquelin has the same calmness around the park, but is perhaps more suited to comparisons with flamini, who i think couldve been a great with the gunners. coquelin has a bright future.... time will tell

[EIE]

Gilberto was a donkey, he had one mediocre year where he was surrounded by good players that made him look better than he was. He was a liabilty the rest of the time, slow, couldn't pass 5 yards and positionally naive. Try going to the games Sonny rather than watch on TV, you might actally learn something and stop yourself looking like a prize tool.

[Jim Jones]

Gilberto was not an amazing player, he was very average, I watched as he misplaced countless passes and could not handle the pace of the EPL. He happened to have some of the best players in history along side him (Bergkamp, Pires, Henry, Vieira), he was a lovely guy and rarely got sent off (which was rare for Arsenal holding midfielders back then).

[DENCH]

"Gilberto's doctor ordered him to wear a back brace for three months to aid the healing of the fractured bone.²⁶ Gilberto returned to his native Brazil for the duration of his rehabilitation.²⁷ During his time there, he doubted whether he would ever be able to play football again, due to speculation that his injury could threaten his career.²⁶ Despite his concerns, his long rehabilitation time paid off as he made a full recovery. He made his footballing comeback in Arsenal's 4–1 victory over Norwich City on 22 April 2005. During the whole 2004–05 season, Gilberto was injured for 7 months and played only 17 games. His absence, combined with Arsenal's slump in form at the time, led to much discussion regarding the importance of Gilberto to the Arsenal team;²⁸ some suggesting that Arsenal struggled without him.¹⁶ Gilberto's difficult 2004–05 season ended in consolation as Arsenal finished runners-up in the Premiership and won the FA Cup against Manchester United on penalties." .............this may only be wikipedia, but thats what im pointing out to you. as a season ticket holder for the last 13 year and having played for arsenal from the age of 7-13, i figure my understanding of football is quite good. but dw, im sure youre writing off gilberto having taken into account his various honours. ill list them just in case:
América (MG):
Série B (1): 1997¹²
Copa Sul-Minas (1): 2000
Atlético-MG:
Minas Gerais State League (1): 2000¹¹²
Arsenal
FA Premier League (1): 2003–04¹⁶
FA Cup (2): 2003,¹¹³ 2005¹¹⁴
FA Community Shield (2): 2002,¹¹⁵ 2004¹¹⁶
Panathinaikos
Super League Greece (1): 2010
Greek Football Cup (1): 2010
International
FIFA World Cup (1): 2002¹¹⁷
Copa América (1): 2007
FIFA Confederations Cup (2): 2005,¹¹⁸ 2009