French midfielder Francis Coquelin has confirmed he did not want to return to Arsenal following a successful loan spell at Charlton at the start of this season, yet he is now on course to finish the campaign as a starter in next Saturday's FA Cup final.
Coquelin impressed during at the Championship side in the first half of this campaign before he returned to his parent club, with Gunners boss Arsene Wenger offering him no assurances that he would be given a place in his first team line-up.
Yet Coquelin took his chance with a fine performance in Arsenal's 2-1 win at West Ham on December 28 and he has since emerged as one of the big success stories of the Gunners' season.
"It was true that I wasn't happy when I came back," Coquelin told Sunday newspaper reporters. "I was playing regularly even if it was in the Championship and obviously to be on the bench, I was a bit frustrated. The chance came against West Ham and I ready for it.
"The manager said to me that I didn't look happy when I came back. I said 'yeah, it's true' because I was playing regularly and then I was back on the bench and then I started the West Ham game when I didn't expect it.
"We were sixth at the time. West Ham were fifth, so it was a massive game. I thought he's not going to play me and he plays me. It shows in football you really need to be ready at any time.
"I always had hunger, I knew if I got the chance I was ready for it. I just needed the chance. It was difficult, but I think for six months I was really focused even if I was not playing.
"Every training session I wanted to make something out of it. If a chance was coming I was ready. It was going there to get something out of it and do something good there. That's what I have done. When I came back I was full of confidence and ready for a fight.
"The dream now? Well this is the dream. I am at Arsenal, I have been here since I was 17. Arsenal is a club that I really like and if I could stay here all my career I would love to."
The thought of leaving Arsenal was very much in Coquelin's mind at stages this season and yet he admitted that prospect would have been tough to accept after spending so many years fighting to get his chance in Wenger's team.
"It would have been hard if I had to leave because I would have got a feeling I didn't get the chance to show what I could do," he continued. "I would have been frustrated.
"It's a big club, I understand there is no place for everyone and it's hard to get a place, but this feeling of being frustrated, not have a run of games to show what I could do here, I would always have been like, 'I could have'. I would have been really disappointed.
"If someone said tomorrow, 'You have to leave now,' I would be OK. At least I got the chance to show what I could do now."
Coquelin has played 21 Premier League games for Arsenal this season and has won regular praise from boss Wenger, with his transformation in fortunes an unexpected story for a player who has been on the books with the Gunners since the summer of 2008.
"I had a discussion with the boss at the beginning of the season," Coquelin reflected. "He said lets see how it goes until December and we will have another chat.
"I went on loan, I was thinking I might get a call because of injuries, and I got the green light to extend at Charlton. I thought let's focus on Charlton and see what happens in the winter break."