The praise keeps coming in for our French Under-21 international, Gael Clichy; this time it’s from the manager.
Speaking to the official website, Arsene was pleased with the tremendous strides the 18-year-old has been making since joining on a free from French third division side AS Cannes.
Clichy is expected to retain his place at left back for the semi finals with Ashley Cole still out due to a knee injury.
“You never know how guys cope with pressure,” said the manager. “At this level you have to cope with it and he has done that remarkably well.
“He has shown he can handle it. He had a very good game last week against Manchester United and I’m sure he will again tomorrow.”
“Cannes had gone down from the second to the third division,” said the manager. “In France if you don’t come up again in two years you lose your professional status. When that happens the academy players are free.”
“We knew about him but then he had an injury so he was out of sight. He only played three or four games before the end of that season. However we kept him in mind, that is why we were first on the case.”
Clichy starred in the 1-1 draw with Manchester United last Sunday and also picked up the Arsenal-Mania Man of the Match award bagging 36% of the votes.