Francis Coquelin was voted Arsenal’s player of the month for August and the midfielder appeared on the Arsenal podcast this week.

His story is one that we’ve all been over 100 times already, the player who arrived at the club when he was just 17, impressing initially before falling by the wayside and being farmed out on loan. When he left to join Charlton with his contract at the club running out it seemed like he was destined for the exit door only for injury to strike down most of the club’s midfield and the rest, as they say, is history – much of it still in the making.

SINGAPORE - JULY 18: Francis Coquelin of Arsenal passes the ball during the Barclays Asia Trophy final match between Arsenal and Everton at the National Stadium on July 18, 2015 in Singapore. (Photo by Stanley Chou/Getty Images)
SINGAPORE – JULY 18: Francis Coquelin of Arsenal passes the ball during the Barclays Asia Trophy final match between Arsenal and Everton at the National Stadium on July 18, 2015 in Singapore. (Photo by Stanley Chou/Getty Images)

“If you keep working hard it will pay off,” Coquelin told the podcast“Sometimes it is mentally hard when you don’t get the chances but if you stay mentally strong and I think you need to have good people around you as well, I think is really important.

“Make good decisions as well but when you get a chance you need to grab it, but the most important thing is to not give up.”

Spending time on loan with Lorient, SC Frieburg, and Charlton, the 24-year-old also had some advice for some of the Arsenal youngsters who are currently out on loan.

He added “I think it’s good experience, you get to know what it is all about in the different leagues.

“I think here there is a lot of comfort, it’s Arsenal Football Club, it’s a great club, it’s got all the facilities but when you go around different places you realise then that it is not Arsenal everywhere and you need to prove every week, especially when you go on loan with the Arsenal label, you need to give even more.

“It’s a good experience for them. I recently watched the results of Hull City, and I saw that Chuba (Akpom) scored some goals and Isaac (Hayden) was doing well also.

“This will be a good experience for them and if they avoid injuries and continue to play well, then it will be good for them.”