Francis Coquelin

Francis Coquelin is a footballer from France, currently playing for Freiburg on loan from Arsenal as a defensive midfielder. He was born in 1991 in Laval and began his youth career at AS Laval Bourny. Then he came through the youth system of Stade Lavallois and joined Arsenal in 2008.

In 2009/10 Coquelin featured regularly for Arsenal reserve team and in September 2009 he made his first team debut as a substitute in the League Cup match against West Bromwich Albion. The 2010/11 season he spent in France, being loaned to FC Lorient. His debut there came on 14 August 2010 as a substitute in a 1-2 loss at Nice.

After that season he returned to Arsenal and the first league match he played was an 8-2 loss to Manchester United, in December he made his debut in the UEFA Champions League, which was a 3-1 loss at Olympiacos. In January 2012 Francis Coquelin extended his contract with Arsenal.

In the summer 2013 Francis was loaned out to Freiburg.

He has been a part of the France national youth team at U-17, U-18, U-19, U-20 and U-21 levels. He was a part of the team winning the UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship in 2010, he also played in the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup, where the team finished fourth.