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Report: Valencia tables £12M bid for Arsenal's Coquelin

Catherine Ivill / Getty Images Sport / Getty

La Liga surprise side Valencia is reportedly offering out-of-favour Arsenal defensive midfielder Francis Coquelin a lifeline.

Surplus to requirements in Arsene Wenger's squad with just one league start this season, Coquelin has recently been linked with a January move to fellow Londoners West Ham and Crystal Palace. According to the Mirror's John Cross, Valencia is throwing its hat in the ring with a £12-million offer for the Frenchman.

Fit for Sunday's shocking FA Cup third-round defeat at Nottingham Forest, Coquelin was not included in a squad that featured a slew of first-team fringe players and emerging academy products. That omission hinted at a January exit, with Arsenal reportedly demanding no less than £10 million for the player that has four-and-a-half years left on his current deal.

Coquelin, 26, joined Arsenal's academy in 2008 from Laval, and after a pair of loan spells abroad with Lorient and Freiburg, was recalled prematurely from a temporary stay at Charlton in 2014 to become a mainstay of the Gunners' XI.

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