Arsene Wenger made some interesting comments in his latest press conference about the recent emergence as a full bona fide first team player from Francis Coquelin.

“The world has changed,” the boss said.

“The appreciation today of the quality of a player is just down with the money you spend. If we had bought Coquelin at Christmas for £40 million, everyone would say ‘what a signing’. I am sorry he didn’t cost any money, but he is still a good player.”

We certainly can wonder how much Coquelin would have cost on the transfer market.

It is important to note that the transfer market value depends on supply and demand. Luckily enough, there is French defensive midfielder on the market as well that is available for the asking price of £20m to £25m if you believe the papers.

Considering the premium price paid by teams during the winter transfer window, that price would have probably been around £30m in January.

Price is also linked to the players contract length, so that a player with six months remaining on his contract would have cost a lot less than £30m, probably between £5m to £10m depending on how desperate for the player Arsenal would have been.

Francis Coquelin can be categorized as a ‘slow maturing playe’r as he has been on the club’s book since the 2008/09 season.

He has obviously cost a bit of money through his wages over the last six season, probably alleviated by his two full seasons on loan. But he has certainly saved the club at least £10 million in a transfer fee, when he stepped up to the plate while everyone was injured in that position.

He is also a proper defensive midfielder unlike the previous players used in that position and has therefore been instrumental in adding the right balance between Arsenal’s attacking style and defensive need that have been ignored in previous seasons.

Some might say that, in itself, makes him priceless.