Mathieu Debuchy

There was an issue with Sagna over length of contract and wages he asked for 90 k and 3 years and we eventualyy offerred 2 years and 65 which he was on allready !
We then gave debuchy a 5 year deal at 70 k …should have doen the 3 year with Sagna !

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It does seem very silly offering Debuchy a long term deal and refusing to offer Sagna the years he wanted, the net result of it all is Bellerin broke into the 1st team though and he’s better than both so I’m not overly concerned with how its worked out.

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Debuchy was a solid buy on paper though, make no mistake. He was good for Newcastle, he was mature at at time when we still needed more maturity in defence and he had a hatful of caps for the French NT, with that resume, the French passport and an absolutely reasonable price tag he was a great buy.

Sagna was solid in defence no doubt, the only problem I can think of with him was (what still persists with every FB we have at the club) that he can’t cross the ball for shite, but still probably the most reliable full back at Arsenal since the invincibles. He probably left because he wanted a chance to win something before his career was over though, same as RvP and several other players, and we were low on cash. Wenger said so, the board said so, even players (Henry) have said so.

But yes, it did pave the way for Bellerin, and if it didn’t we probably would’ve bought someone immediately once we could start spending again. Sagna was reliability personified but once you have cash, not exactly irreplaceable.

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Debuchy looked like a top buy when we got him. It’s a shame the injuries and a dire attitude curtailed his Arsenal career but make no mistake about it I feel it was the right decision o sign him and replace Sagna.

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Mathieu Debuchy has told L’Equipe he hopes to leave Arsenal in January and said he “did not appreciate” Arsene Wenger blocking his chance to move to Manchester United.

Debuchy, 31, has played just 16 minutes of Premier League football this season after being unable to dislodge Hector Bellerin as Wenger’s first-choice right-back.

The France international was in a similar position last season, and spent the second half of the 2015-16 campaign on loan at Bordeaux in a last-ditch effort to secure a place in Les Bleus’ Euro 2016 squad.

An injury late in the season ended those hopes, but Debuchy says he would have been turning out in the colours of United if not for Wenger vetoing a potential switch to Old Trafford 12 months ago.

“I wasn’t playing a lot, it was United, there’s nothing else to say. For me, it was almost unexpected, but the coach said no,” said Debuchy, who played in just two Premier League matches last season. “It’s something I did not appreciate. He wasn’t using me, so I didn’t see his interest in doing that.”

Debuchy, who has been sidelined with a thigh injury since November, added that he and fellow Frenchman Wenger are now barely on speaking terms.

“We acknowledge each other, we say hello, nothing more,” he said.

Debuchy could also have had the chance to leave in the summer, with both Espanyol and Fiorentina reportedly interested in acquiring the full-back, who joined Arsenal after an impressive spell at Newcastle United in 2014.

“I had opportunities at the end of the transfer window,” Debuchy said. "Unfortunately, the club didn’t want to let me go. I had a good preseason, I gave my all, but from the first game, I wasn’t in the squad. It was a real blow. I said to myself that things weren’t starting well.

“My situation doesn’t meet what I had been hoping for, but that’s football. There have been things, injuries and the coach’s choices that have meant that I haven’t played. Even if I don’t understand, I’m not surprised, I know how it works.”

Debuchy added: “I have had some very difficult moments. Now, I try to channel that, to take it out in my work. I don’t show anything, I dig in. I have always worked like that.”

The full-back, who is under contract at Arsenal until 2019, says he wants to leave the club in a bid to secure first-team football elsewhere.

“[I want] a way out. I want to take on a new challenge, to get back into it, to simply do my job properly. At a given time, you miss the excitement, the adrenaline…” he said, adding a reunion at Marseille with his former coach, Rudi Garcia, whom he spent four-and-a-half years with at Lille, was a possibility.

"I told my agents to get back to me only if there was something concrete. But Marseille is Marseille. Even if the results have been a bit difficult, it’s still one of the biggest clubs in Ligue 1.

Also, there is a great project being put in place with a coach I know well."

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Only 2 more years of this 70k a week leach on the books !

Hope so!

He has every right to be annoyed about not being allowed to go to United because ultimately he’s not an Arsenal fan and has no real affinity towards the club other than the fact that he plays for us.

But airing it publicly whilst still a player for Arsenal is grossly unprofessional and only makes me dislike him even more. His attitude is terrible.

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we should let him go, at his age he wants to be playing not waiting for chances, we have Jenkinson and Gabriel to cover Bellerin plus you could bring back Chambers if need be

the bloke has barely played and didn’t do that well when he did, see no reason to hold on to him

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I can understand why Mathieu is angry, is difficult to accept the fact to be out in favour of a young boy with all the qualities to became a better player than you.

I was happy when we signed him, he was a solid RB. I remember his positive performances against Besiktas with many tackles and movements good enough to save our defense with a slowly Mertesacker, but since his return from the first injury, he has been not consistent like the past apart two or three games.

Against Bournemouth was ready to show his qualities and his passion, playing 15 minutes at top level, but injuries have ruined again (with a big lack of confidence because of injuries and relationship with our manager) his career.

I wish him all the best, probably he is right when he speaks about the bad relationship with Arsène, but if - according to him - Arsène should understand him, he should understand the manager. We have a world class player like Bellerìn on the right, he hasn’t played well when he started his games and was a suicide to help our rivals when United had needed a RB.

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Time to say goodbye? :disappointed_relieved:

Nah it’s not that bad… Fuck him off. Best of luck to him in his future endeavors.

Never rated him, thought he was a bad signing from the beginning. Shit at Newcastle, shit and poncing a living off us…

Amongst all the transfer gossip, has there been any news of finally offloading this freeloader? I thought his contract expired after June, but apparently his deal he signed back in 2014, runs out in 2019! WTF? :gabriel:

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Fuck my life, we are fucking cunts aren’t we.

How the fuck do we let dross like Denilson, Debuchy, Squillaci, Silvestre etc. hang around for so fucking long. Oh my god why can’t we tie down players like Sanchez and Ozil to these never-fucking-ending contracts.

Big wages & major fitness concerns.

Have we ever done one of those, go for free and we’ll pay half your salary kind of deals to offload players?

I don’t recall it.

edit: guessing Denilson going to Brazil was one of these, but that’s all I can remember.

Newcastle seemed to be interested in having him back but nothing materialised from that. And Leicester were apparently interested, but that’s gone cold too. It can’t be his transfer fee stopping a deal from happening - as I’d imagine we’re not requesting much, just a glass of wine and a pack of peanut M&M’s will do me.

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Reminds me of FM when I recently told a player “your career is over here, time to move on” and his reply was “happy to take my wages and sit on the bench for the remainder of my contract.”

I’d just rip the band-aid off and buy him out… we really don’t need players that aren’t uber hungry and adding value to the squad overall.

Exactly.

If he’s happy to sit out and take the money surely paying him off with a lump sum that covers the majority of said wages is the way to go?

Doesn’t look like he’ll ever be considered for selection again so what’s the point keeping him around.

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I think it will be Jenkinson that goes with Debuchy being retained as an auxiliary wingback in the absence of Bellerin or centreback if we’re down to the barebones.

Another example tho of someone that is probably on 70 or 80k and should really be on half that. Having said that, when we signed him his stock was a fair bit higher and people were generally enthused about the signing

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