Forgotten Arsenal Defender Frustrated Over Failed Transfer to OGC Nice

Arsenal defender Mathieu Debuchy has expressed his irritation over failing to complete a summer switch to Ligue 1 side OGC Nice, and blames the French club for the deal breaking down.

Debuchy spoke to French publication L'Equipe recently where the defender made it clear that Nice's management was at fault.

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Debuchy said: "I had met Julien Fournier, the general manager of the club, in June in Monaco. We talked about everything, Nice and myself, to find out where I was. Then he asked me to meet the coach, which I agreed, necessarily. I even accepted to do physical tests, they were positive but afterwards, I did’t have any news."

When asked how he found out that the club had decided to sign Paris-Saint-Germain star Christophe Jallet instead of him, Debuchy said: "Like everyone else, in the press…

"He (Fournier) could at least have sent me a message, warning me that in the end, I wasn’t their choice. It would have been… just normal. That’s it, it irritated me, it was not correct on their part but it didn’t surprise me too much. There are things in football that go beyond me."

After only making 13 league appearances since joining Arsenal from Newcastle United in 2014, Mathieu Debuchy has become something of a forgotten man at the Emirates Stadium. 

The 32-year-old briefly went on loan to Bordeaux in January 2016, but failed to even make ten appearances for the Ligue 1 outfit in a disappointing spell for the once highly-rated full-back.

Debuchy will certainly attempt to force a move away from the Gunners in January, and as Arsene Wenger helped a potential deal with Nice, it's likely the defender will get his move away from north London soon enough.