Wednesday, December 18, 2024

L’Equipe claim Sagna to City is a done deal

L’Equipe (paywalled) are reporting this morning that Bacary Sagna reached an agreement with Manchester City on Monday and will sign a three-year deal at the Etihad.

The right-back, who signed for the Gunners from Auxerre for £6 million, is out of contract at the end of the month and will leave on a Bosman after seven years of service at the Emirates.

It was reported earlier in the season that the likes of Inter Milan and Galatasaray were keen on the 31-year-old but with big money on the table – reportedly £140,000 a week – from City it appears Sagna’s head has been turned.

It’ll be a sad sight seeing him step out in blue next season, especially as his debut could come against us in the Community Shield in early August, but we can’t really moan too much given the exemplary example he’s set to countless other players during his time in N5.

You can’t really level too much blame at the club either, they’ve been trying to negotiate a new deal with the player for the best part of 18 months and on this occasion have come up short. There’s no official confirmation of a deal having been struck but it appears it’s only a matter of time.

Scouting the market for a replacement, Arsenal have been heavily linked with Toulouse’s Ivorian international Serge Aurier who at 21-years-old is tipped as a big prospect for the future.

If nothing else, Arseblog News is pleased Sagna leaves Arsenal with a medal in his pocket as a reward for his efforts.

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Don Cazorleone

Love you Bac and good luck,
Now bring on Serge Aurier

German Gunner

Hope they don’t show him how to cross a ball or beat the first man

Gargoyle

My thoughts exactly. As much as he was a reliable player in defense, he was very limited in the final third. Serge Aurier is the exact opposite.

Eltedwardooo

Exactly, Sagna, a good player who was well remunerated by Arsenal but he was hardly Cafu. I can’t be the only one to think that a club such as Arsenal can’t sign a better player than him for the position. Granted Sagna was flexible in that he seemed pretty adept at centre back without being tested there over a period of time. I’d take Lauren over him any day at right back. He has a pretty hot wife though in fairness to him.

maaan

Actually he is good at crossing. Beating the first man? not so much.

Andy Mack

I think you mean he has been good at times.
Not so much in the last couple of years though.

It really misses me why $ity would offer him that much as I can’t see him playing ahead of Zabaleta who’s one of the few RBs that’s ‘on par’ with Bac as a defender and probably a better attacker….
Will Bac spend a year bench-warming and thinking of his bank balance or will he throw a hissy fit and move on after a year with a $ity pay-off…

Bring on the Cup!

Maybe they need to sell Zaba to try and comply with FFP. Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha…

Dracular

Arsenally I love you Bac. But wats love got to do wit this? Go to shitty, and you become a bitch.

Unnecessarilystupid

I keep saying this, but it bears repeating, we’re signing Calum Chambers, not Aurier.

ARiddlingName

I’d love to know your source.

Unnecessarilystupid

I appreciate that and I hope you appreciate that I can’t say.

I am prepared to be labelled an ITK wanker if we don’t.

zrz

No one can know who we sign until anything is confirmed. Arsenal do things secretly as you probably all know by now..

guyfawkes

I love Sagna, wanted desperately for him to stay, but if that photo, or 250000 fans and the entire arsenal team singing for him to stay can’t make him change his mind, then I’ll be able to move on really.

Let’s go on to something different and exciting in Serge Aurier.

Why is my name required

No need for Aurier, get this guy. Come on Wenger, he won’t be cheap but he has class.

https://vine.co/v/MiPMEKXYb91

Chairman Meow

Totally agree with you, and disagree with the people calling him a “loyal servant [to arsenal?]” After Wengers kiss on the head, the 250 000 (plus im sure millions more) fans saying stay, a contract offer worth £4 mil a year (I think) and its not good enough for him? This only goes to show he was only a servant to money in my opinion, and frankly I would much prefer Aurier after this…well betrayal ha, Aurier seemingly is a gooner through and through and I’d like to think he wouldnt go to a rival team for an extra bit… Read more »

goonertom

Loyalty works both ways, he was loyal to us, If you stay at a club for 7 years whilst having a barren spell and nothing to show for it, when your a player who is easily good enough to attract attention (and offers) from other top clubs, then its the clubs responsibility to be loyal in return and offer money which represents his value in the current market, i.e. what another club is willing to pay him. Arsenal have decided off their own back they dont think his services are worth the money we could easily afford to pay him… Read more »

Chairman Meow

Yeah but how do you know he didnt have offers? have you met him? £140 000 a week does not represent the current market, it represents a club willing to splash out an unreasonable amount of money, not for one year, but for three. How do you know what amount they have offered him, and that they think he is not worth it? I personally agree (on the assumption) that Arsenal do not think he is worth £140 000 for three years. If he was truly loyal he would perhaps come to an agreement with Wenger (who clearly wants him… Read more »

ChrisGoona

Sorry, but I can’t agree with many of the sentiments here. Sagna understands Arsenal and what it means to be an Arsenal player. Man Citeh may not be one or our top hated rivals, but they are our ‘rivals’. I can never wish an outgoing Arsenal player well who will go and play for a rival and potentially hamper our chances of success. On a professional level, what kind of ambition does it demonstrate for him to go play backup and earn a lot more money doing it. Football has gone mental. Money is ruining the loyalty within the game.… Read more »

Turkis Gooner

totally agree with you mate

Tony Hall

I agree as well, if he can’t manage on £80,000 a week or whatever it is here then he can sod off. It takes me 6 years to earn that amount ffs Money and greed has ruined football, it is even more fucking out of touch than ever now. Players costing £90,000,000, players earning as much as £300,000 in a week? Is there no loyalty left at all to your club or manager or do you just fuck off to the first person to give you more money. Why the fuck would he not want to stay here? Even if… Read more »

Witoldo

Who says there’s no loyalty left in football? City forgot to bake Yaya Toure a birthday cake and, now, perceiving this as a slight to his undying love for the club, he wants to go to a new club.

Bunburyist

That Yaya Toure birthday cake story was unbelievable. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at the immense sense of entitlement.

Oh, and totally agree with ChrisGoona’s comment. Well said.

Mikel Artekkers

http://youtu.be/8HnlQ5lXqio?t=2m43s

Makes it even funnier when you think that he got a cake, and a sing song too, all whilst on a first class flight to Dubai. Oh, the hardship that man has gone through.

InTheNorthBank

100% in agreement. I love Sagna and wish him all the best in his personal life.

But, should he move to City, I hope the rest of his football playing career is barren and miserable. I am a fan of Sagna/any Arsenal player. But that support is totally secondary to my support for Arsenal Football Club.

Jackie Goon

Agreed, however defensively solid baccy was and although he ran all day, he never really had any end product. But oh well. I guess now that he’s gone to Manchester City, he will get cut from the final 23 man squad for France now? I suppose Ludavine will have her twitter account ready when he does.

InTheArse

Damn!! I feel sad, very very sad.

Poldi's Hyper Masculine Voice

The guy gave us best years of his career. It’s only right to make a big money move given he has very few years left. Just my opinion.

Vino

I can understand his desire to move, he’s well within his rights to do so. But he can’t really argue that this is anything other than about money. He won’t be playing regularly, simple as that. So surprised he hasn’t pushed a move to PSG, seems like the perfect fit.

D

Also surprised Sags isn’t returning to the French league. Whilst no doubt money has something to do with it (and at 31 he has every right to think about his future), but he may also see City as his best shot at an EPL medal.
Frankly he’s earned the right to do whatever he want’s to do with his career and some of the vitriol directed at him from some Arsenal “fans” is small minded at best and stupid at worst.
Good luck Sagna and thank you for all the hard work you’ve given us over the years.

ALL CAPS GUNNER

AGREE WITH YOU HERE. PEOPLE BEMOANING THE FACT THAT HE’S LEFT FOR OUTRAGEOUS WAGES. ITS NOT A QUESTION OF ‘GETTING BY’ – OF COURSE HE CAN ‘GET BY’ ON £4 MILL A YEAR. ITS A QUESTION OF WHAT HE’S WORTH. HE IS ONE OF THE BEST RIGHT BACKS IN THE WORLD AND SHOULD BE PAID ACCORDINGLY. I’M DEVASTATED THE CLUB COULDN’T DIG DEEP ENOUGH TO RETAIN HIS SERVICES, HE HAS BEEN QUALITY FOR US. I’LL MISS YOU BAC.

DannyO

this hasn’t happened yet and could be a brinkmanship negotiating tactic by his agent. I know I sound deluded, but until its officially confirmed I hold on to my deluded belief that Citeh’s need to come within FFP will mean this is a non starter

rossi88

For that exact reason this deal makes sense for man city. No transfer fee

DR

I seem to remember reading that part of the sanctions is not being able to increase the wage bill, or at least limiting any increase.

I think he’s getting Lescott’s wage packet.

Sagna is awesome, but 140k for a 31 year old? Am I the only one who thinks that sounds crazy?

RobM

@DR no. By the sound of things, lé boss thinks that sounds crazy too.

I certainly wouldn’t blame Sagna for moving on if he can get £140,000 and we’re only able to offer, say £100,000. We’d all be tempted to change our jobs for such a large wage increase too.

Equally, our club has a budget to work in and can’t break the bank for one player, especially if that means we can’t sign other players we might need more.

Chris O

Let’s be honest – he’s not worth 140k/week, especially at his age, but this is why City’s destroying football.

I will say, however, that it makes sense for us to pay a premium salary to keep him here as we’ll have to pay a transfer fee to replace him if we don’t, and he not only plays RB but is also a very good backup at CB, which is doubly important with TV5 unsettled.

Henry's beard

He’s been a loyal and brilliant player for Arsenal and with that sort of money on offer he was always going to leave. In any other job if you were headhunted and offered £50,000 more than your current employer was offering, you’d be off in a heartbeat, so I can totally understand.

All the best to him… except if/when he plays against us.

Exiledgooner

I just can’t bring myself to hate Citeh in the same ways as I hate other clubs. I dislike them as they’re horribly vulgar and are contributing to the financial ruin of football, but their fans at least (for the most part) know what it’s like to suffer, and anything that winds up their glory hunting ‘Manchester’ rivals (whom I loathe so, so much as a Londoner) is alright with me.Chelsea’s fans are the most vile in all of football (only ground I’ve ever felt truly disgusted by the opposition fans and in fear for my safety was Stamford Bridge)… Read more »

Mpls

I wonder just what % of City’s CURRENT support base consists of those who remember how to suffer? Not much. I can hate them. I can easily hate them more than Liverpool at this point in time. And adding to that distaste is how frequently they come for Arsenal players.

That said, Kolo was past it and anyone can have Na$ri.

So I guess it’s $agna then. But nowhere near to the same extent as the one whose ladyfriend has just got sued.

Momo (@MuhamLAD)

I think he’ll get plenty of game time at City to be fair:

A backline of Clichy(?) – Kompany – Sagna – Zabeleta could be solid

Smokin'Gunner

The difference is he could likely take his pick of any team. All this loved up talk is great but his time with us should mean something too him and he shouldn’t want to play for another English team.

If my wife was loyal and consistent for ten years then cheated with my neighbour because he had a flash new car that spits notes out the exhaust I very much doubt I would look at her fondly.

Exiledgooner

I’ve ceased to idolise footballers until they’ve retired and their legacies can be assured. After the Dutch traitor, I never take loyalty for granted from any of them. Perhaps the bar was just set very low by previous players like the little boy and the chinless wonder?

Smokin'Gunner

I agree and for that reason this won’t hurt me in nearly the same way, my memories of sagna will however be tainted and that should mean something too him (I know, I know). It’s the family mentality we adopt as fans and it seems to rub off on very few players. Or it could just be they would sell their own blood ties for double wages.

goonertom

its strange, i hate it when i see current arsenal players or manager shaking hands and acting friendly with ex arsenal players who sold us out. Particularly dutch skunk, nasri, and ashley cole (i mean turning up to the christmas party? shouldnt he be barred?) but i honestly dont think ill feel the same extremes of hatred when i see sagna play against us for city. He didnt do something completely insulting like the ‘you guys’ garb and has generally just shut up and kept his cards close to his chest, its hard not to respect that attitude. especially with… Read more »

Matthew

I agree in that I’m not happy he’s chosen to go to a major rival. I’d be much happier if he had a go with Inter Milan or something.
That said, he’s settled in England and you can’t hate him for choosing to stay. And, if he’s playing in England, his only real option is to go to a rival since he’s a quality player who deserves to play at the highest level.
Good luck Bac, but I hope you never win a premier league trophy with City.

locksley444

Dont equate it to a marriage. Equate it to a job. If you were offered a much higher pay by rival company where you’d be working on a technology/product that would be competing with your current firm’s, I’m sure you’d be okay with taking that. This is emotional for the fans and players, but its not a purely emotional relationship. There’s money involved. I dont remember the last time anyone paid their wife a salary.

Jake

Fatgooner probably does.

Smokin'Gunner

Equating it to a job would greatly take away from my passion, if I can love moments like Saturday as much as I do then I just have to ride with this sort of nut shot.

SB

Absolutely! The reason why this is a good ‘break-up’ unlike the Little Dutch Boy or Na$ri is because he honoured his contract during the troubled times, while giving us his best yrs. If someone is willing to pay him £140K weekly, he deserves it and there can’t be any hard feelings as he could have left earlier if he agitated like the other guys. Also this was the sort of deals the mad caps like are willing to throw, especially at Arsenal players, in the hope of a quick elevation to the top & it has worked for them. Its… Read more »

LennyThePep

To be fair, Skunk and Nochin didn’t dishonour their contracts; they played until the club sold them.

It’s easy to be bitter but don’t forget that the club was generously compensated for both those cunts.

DR

No, they just forced moves through in a distasteful manner when they thought they’d get more else where (more trophies/more money, whatever), that’s what makes them hated.

There’s a little more hate to RvP because we gave him so much, we made him our number one striker, made him captain and when he had so many issues too…before turning around and going to a hated club as soon as he’d had one good season.

Well, at least it was fun watching him play in front of CleverleyFellaini for a season while Giroud had Ozil and Santi supplying him.

ARiddlingName

Yes, but the difference is Nasri didn’t give us his best years, RVP was also 28 (turning 29) when he left. Still could have given us another couple of years since both the club and player had finally made a breakthrough with his injuries going away. Not to mention how he said he’d stay if we showed ambition, and we went and signed frikin Podolski and Santi, and at the time ligue 1 golden boot winner Giroud! If RVP had stayed that season we might have been challenging for the title in 2012-2013 let alone the fact that we probably… Read more »

Chairman Meow

I hate that argument! How could you possible compare a common job to being a professional footballer?
You don’t generally have a shred of loyalty for your boss in standard jobs, the man who essentially created you in Sagans case. Nor millions of people around the world being upset by the decision to leave for a rival company, who gives a shit in the normal world?
Football is not a normal job, so dont compare it

heroldgoon

“Except when/if he plays against us”

What are you talking about mate? i hope he plays terrible ALL the time helping us further our title ambitions while at the same time twatting city.

i hope you play terribly for the 3 years at city we need all the help we can get if were to win the league… @bacarysagna sincerely herold

JohnnyG

Probably for the best. Wouldn’t make sense to be paying a 31 year old 140k as much as we all love the man

GreekTragedy

Usually would be all bitter and twisted about a first team player donning the sky blue of City but in this case I can understand it. You’re a long time retired and a three year deal on that money is too good to turn down.
I’m not going to wish him luck or hope the move is a succes but I get it.

BillyBatts

Precisely. Thank you for all your years of service Bac, we’ll remember you as a warrior for the club, but I hope your time at the Middle Eastlands is fruitless and barren.

THEEEEO

Hope for his sake he doesn’t spend the rest of his career on the bench behind Zabaleta, he’s better than that.

2014-2015 = the year we've been waiting for

Most likely they’ll turn him into a centre-half. Kompany/Sagna ‘partnership’. 🙁

ShimShallstrom

Exactly. Its been driving me crazy for months now, hearing everybody talking about sagna, and how we wont sign him, or how he wants to leave… Do any of you “fans” remember an interview earlier this year when sagna himself said that his future is center back? He said that he didn’t think at his age he would be able to maintain the stamina for right back and wanted a move to center back. To me, this is why he’s moving. He can no longer keep up at RB, and arsenal are just not willing to give him a move… Read more »

heroldgoon

Zabaleta is more suited to the way city play, making runs in and around the box, better technically when going forward than Sagna. He almost plays like a striker at times, can sagna the immovable rock do that? anyways this could prove a costly experiment by city that i so badly want it to fail.

DR

I’m not so sure, I reckon Sagna will stay on the right whilst providing cover for CB.

Zabaleta will play at LB, he’s not a career RB and he can give everything he gives on the right hand side to the left hand side but having Sagna on the right means they can get away with Kolarov or even Clichy at LB, he gives them nice depth for a year or two until he falls off.

heroldgoon

I know he’s served us well during his time here but moving to city is a dick move when I’m pretty confident he could have got a lucrative deal elsewhere (out of England). Even cashley the cunt will move away from england due to respect for the Chelsea fans but i guess i was naive to think Sagna was class enough to do the same….@sagnaoffical you suck.

Don Cazorleone

you think he should leave the country solely not to hurt your feelings… you’re right, he is completely without class.

heroldgoon

Mine and the 250,000 other screaming gunners on Sunday yes… but I’m fairly certain the fact that Ade the whore, Clichy, Nasri, rvp made the move must have had the slightest bearing in his decision. sort of “they did it so why can i not?”

The problem is how much “class” we think our players are….they are not. and i’m not willing to bet how much long till Verminator starts to entertain Manu..

Exiledgooner

He’s been in England for seven years and has a family whom one presumes are settled here. Uprooting them and moving to Italy or Turkey, countries which are very, very different culturally to England, would be difficult, especially for children. I understand why he wants to stay put, it’s just a shame he’s going to a rival club. It would have been nicer if he’d gone to France, but it’s a matter for him, and perhaps the offers weren’t forthcoming. FFP maybe? City seem to be determined to ignore it in the hope it will go away, whereas my impression… Read more »

17 years a gooner

you support the team he plays for, you do not own him, get over your sense of entitlement. city will suck but hes his own man.

Smokin'Gunner

Nobody owns anybody else but we judge people on their actions and choices daily. This would signal a big Fuck you too his “family” and I can’t respect that kind of action in any aspect of life.

Fin

Disagree. A dick move would have been doing an rvp or nasfuckingcuntchinwankry on it and pushing a move through when the club was in dire need of holding onto it’s (at the time) best players. He stuck it out for the best years of his career at a club that was going through a, shall we say, lean period. Now coming to the tail end of his career he wants more trophies and a pay bump. Personally i think we will be challenging city for the title next season properly and the argument could be made for him to have… Read more »

heroldgoon

Many deluded gooners in here tonight.

Sagna is leaving us sort of with a slap on the face… “oh so you guys leave me to run down my contract and refuse to up that offer by a mere £20K?, me sagna ? (Now he’s so incensed he doesn’t even want PSG anymore, he wants to ruin us, crush us for not bending the rules for him)

He then does this>>>

/runs down to pellegrinis house/

That is his mindset all this respect/loyalty is for the few, very few. i repeat very ! like the r/ship me and my fridge have…

Gargoyle

@Don Cazorleone, you can say the same thing about Van Cunt, but I guess you choose not to. Oh how I love those double standards.

Don Cazorleone

What are you on about mate?

If you don’t know the difference between RVP and Sagna’s situations, no amount of argument from me will be able to convince you.

Gargoyle

The difference is completely irrelevant to this discussion. It’s their decision, and only theirs. I swear, we are the most self-entitled people in the world. Whether or not a player respects the club after the fact and whether or not you should respect the player is an entirely different thing. Bottom line is, this is a career move and not something that should please you or the club, or both. Loyalty is a lovely thing, but nobody owes you shit. Talking thrash about it only makes us bitter fans. And besides, there is a lot of things you can do… Read more »

Don Cazorleone

I was the one saying Sagna doesn’t owe us anything…

You brought up rvp…

are you drunk?

Gargoyle

And what does RVP owe you?

Ian

As much as I pains me, He’s going on the list.

heroldgoon

City throw money around its disgusting, the cancer of football.

neutral

Seems strange for city to invest so much wages for a second choice RB, maybe they plan to play him as a CB.

will be interesting to see if City make any effort to move into the black

GunnAlex

I can lay blame with City though. Signing up the player for shits and giggles.
Zabaleta is a good right back. There’s competing for places and then there is nonsense.

Mootilated

That’s the thing though. He’s not going to be competing for a place. He’s done his job well. He’s won a medal. Now he has time to relax and rake in hundreds of thousands and occasionally get to play at right back for one of the best teams in England. Who would say no to that at 33 after 7 years of hard work? The guy deserves it.

Freddie

Doesn’t make any sense from City’s stand point. Signing probably the second best right back in the league on a 140k contract when you have the best right back who is a couple of years younger on your books.

ARiddlingName

True but there is the fact that Sagna has looked decent everytime he’s played at CB for us. Maybe they want to slot him at CB with Kompany. They’ve got a decent CB that is amazing at RB for free. Not too bad from their point of view if they do that.

Xanthias

I think everyone would have preferred to see him go abroad. He’s gonna have an hard time displacing Zabaleta, and, honestly, if we weren’t already think to replace a 31 years old right back, we’re the ones to blame. I don’t feel that City is strenghtening and we’re becoming definitely weaker, as long as we buy a proper replacement. This is not like losing Cesc or van Persie in their prime…
Good luck to Bac, you’ll be missed and we’ll make sure you’ll miss us as well in the Community Shield!

afolabi ademakinwa

Best of luck Bac you were a loyal player to us till the last day

M0nkeyman

Thanks for your service Bac, top player and human.

However, I will piss my pants laughing when we win the league next season, beating city to it on the last day of the season!

Iceman

Don’t be ridiculous. We’ll win it well before that.

overmars

Can’t wait to see Serge Aurier in action. He looks like a better Eboue, who can actually score goals and defend. I wish Bac well for the future, he’s been one of the best RB’s Arsenal have ever had – as good as Dixon and Lauren. He should have won more with us and deserves the Scrooge Mcduck level of contract he’s getting at Man City. I have a feeling he will play more in the middle for City, perhaps as a partner for Kompany or as 3rd/4th choice CB and 2nd choice RB. Maybe a replacement for the Klingon… Read more »

truj

Bring back Andre Santos!
Eh-eh-eh

heroldgoon

Here we go. suddenly the cons get louder. Once you go city i just cant seem to look at a player in the same light. i remember i used to like Clichy and even my favorite for a bit of time but after his low key not damaging move to city he’s just a cunt now and soon Sagna . it could be Clichy himself or it could be city’s 100 ways to not run a club that i hate so fucking much. god! i think its city!

Crispy

Bac was a good player.

Now though, fuck City, Fuck Sagna, fuck em all.

why

Nasri doesn’t agree to stay, leaves and joins city, gets abuse. Sagna doesn’t agree to stay probably will join city and we are wishing him goodluck? Also basri was harder to replace. Sagna will be easy. The new rb night not be as good in defence but will certainly be much betfer than bac in attack and that’s the truth. And he also knows he’ll be on the bench behind zabaleta. Your choice bacary

Matt

Can’t blame him. Footballers retire in their early-mid-thirties and any future (non managerial) work is at a fraction of their salary. Anyone struggles to readjust to a smaller salary, regardless of their savings. The kind of wage offered is incredible and incomparable to what a 31 year old fullback could expect. It will make his transition to retirement immensely easier for his family, and it’s perfectly understandable for that to be more important to him than “loyalty” to a former club. It’s especially ridiculous to expect him to move country out of respect to us!

j

Have to disagree there. The guy could retire today and live an opulent, pampered life for the rest of his days on the money he has been paid over the course of his stay here. I dont begrudge him leaving for more money, if that is his thing, but i dont think its unacceptable to expect a little respect to be shown to the same fans that have week in and week out chanted his name and supplemented his millionaire lifestyle. He could have signed a new deal here, left for a final payday at monaco etc and left with… Read more »

Naija Pikin!

I’m not even mad at him.
Wish him all the best for the future.

Big Dave

I don’t wish him anything. Loved him while he was with us, but as with any other player who leaves us for another premier league club, I hope they fail. It’s not a case of being harsh – I’m a gooner, I don’t want him to play well for City, I want him to score an own goal when we play them in the Charity Shield.

das pauly bear

Id try get miceal Richards . Hes the forgotten man at city.

ShimShallstrom

wow, you know your shit

Matt

I think Miceal Richards is the forgotten man everywhere. Never heard of him.

Black Hei

I don’t want to state the very obvious. It is just simple arithmetic.

But I bet you that Sagna will be very surprised when he finds out that he is not on City’s CL 13 man team.

The expensively assembled directors of football over at the Emirates have problem doing basic math.

Black Hei

I have been doing some counting and it does seem that Sagna can be squeezed in, if they start discarding some players. Current City’s Foreign regulars squad (15 in total), excluding their backup GK who can be replaced by Wright for UCL. Defenders: Kolorov, Kompany, Zabaleta, Demechelis, Nastic (5) Midfield: Toure, Fernandino, Silva, Nasri, Navez, Javi Garcia (6) Strikers: Negredo, Dzeko, Augero, Jovetic (4) Out of this list, City will have to remove 3 guys. I see Javi Garcia and Demechelis leaving and Nastic going out on loan, or being left out of the CL team. The rest are too… Read more »

HP Brown Sauce

Was awesome while he was here.

Won’t be AS awesome anymore. He knew the controversy he would create.

Jaygor1

Can’t see him getting too many games ahead of zabaleta. Modern day footballers eh. Need that extra 20 k on their final contract. Must have been earning very little over the last few years . Best of luck to him. NEXT… Just as well I don’t live on sentiment ..,, Arsenal forever

Aaron

Must have been earning very little…….are you drunk?! He’s earned more in the last few years then many of us will in our life times, F*ck him now that he’s gone he can rot with the rest of them as far as I’m concerned. I hope he & City win absolutely nothing and have a terrible season topped off by multi-billion pound FFP fines due to not caring about the rules 🙂

RossRapture

Will he even play that much? Zabaleta has made that role his own, had a great season and is younger. I think Sagna needs to get to use to sitting on the bench and only playing in the COC cup.

ThaatArsenalGuy

If I had to choose a defender who could attack or defend … I would pick sagna

That said I look forward to proper attacking threat from our right back next season.

Goon

Arsenal fans should respect his choice. He finished his contract. He still has 5 years left in him.

HFB

I am ok as long as he keeps up his excellent record of hitting the first defenders head to crosses delivered ratio.

2014-2015 = the year we've been waiting for

It’s like when a really hot ex-girlfriend of yorus gets married to some other bloke.

Normally you’d hope she and her new hubby both choke to death having their wedding cake; but in this case you’re somehow forced to wish her well… because she treated you really, really well despite you being quite a nincompoop most of the time.

(I still hope her new hubby fucking chokes to death though!!!)

alx96

Oh my, that analogy, deeply profound.
Exellent post, especially the bracketed sentence.

alx96

Excellent*

50 shades of gandalf the grey

And so passes Bacary, steward of RB

deano

I’ll be sorry to see the Bac of him. Wont be long before before he gets upset no birthday card and no cake and candles.

WilshereIsMyFavouritePlayer

DAMN!!!!

Nic

I accept Sagna’s decision. An extra year is big for a player that will be in their mid-thirties. He will see this as a chance to cash in before his earning potential massively drops in a few years. There will be an opportunity for him to pick up some soulless trophies too. But I think it’s mostly about retirement money.

Mimir

Isn’t there a wage cap for city in the FFP fine levelled by UEFA. If they pay Sagna 140k/week I can only imagine they would be letting go some other equally high waged players.

Laurel

I wish him the best but I can’t deny a bitter after-taste on his move to City.

Paul S

Talking of right backs, Arsenal’s Tafari Moore just won the U17 European Championships with England.

ANDR

He played on the left for england but yeah he is a right back

Me So Hornsey

Yaya Toure looks like he might be leaving. They could employ a medium sized business with his wages gone.

Maybe even a cake making firm…

heavens

And he played left back the whole tournament! Did quite well for a natural right back 🙂

heavens

Taf Moore that is

Richard

Sad to see him leave but this proves his sole motivation is money

Akash Jhaveri

What everybody’s missing is that, despite winning a trophy after 9 years, we will continue to be looked as a feeder club for the likes of City.

Sagna leaving for City would/should never be acceptable in million years. Why shouldn’t City be considered a direct rival?

RobM

It’s not for us to “accept” this or not. He’s leaving on a free at the end of his contract. This isn’t them forcing us to sell a player somehow, this isn’t a player forcing us to let him go for less than he works for, if this happens it will be someone who, on the day he contract expires, no longer works for us choosing to get a new job somewhere else rather than sit on their backside.

DR

Anyone with half a brain can see that 140k for a 31-year-old is stupid money that we can’t afford to pay, and anyone with half a brain isn’t worth listening to, unfortunately that covers the vast majority of the media and pundits but still I wouldn’t let perceptions bother you too much, agents know we will pay big-ish money for good players and that’s pretty much all we need.

Fatgooner

It’s sad to see Sagna go, but I’m not too bothered about it. If this transfer is true then it’s a really strange one. City already have one of the best right-backs in the world in Zabeleta – what part would Sagna play in their team next season? And at 31 why would Bacary want to join a side where he probably won’t play every week? I suppose 100k a week over three years is the answer. That’s a lost of money even for a club like City to pay for a reserve full-back. This guy Aurier looks like a… Read more »

Joe

The idea of c’h’ity is that they use money to hurt their opponents, very much like Bayern in Germany. Buy players and put them on the bench (or just even keep them at their homes), good idea, isn’t it. I wouldn’t be too worried that he leaves, honestly, even our own Jenko has a much better cross than him, just that Jenko doesn’t get enough play time and experience, he can be as good. P.S. C’h’ity is probably the best destination for our Muslim players apparently. Toure, Nasri, Sagna…. We have to be aware that Ozil may end up there… Read more »

master floda

You’re right with the first paragraph. But for the rest… I don’t know if it was meant offensive but I’d just prefer if people left religion out of football…

Freezing cold gooner

Don’t think it was meant to be offensive. Religion might be important to these guys and, if so, then it actually makes sense to go where you think you may be better understood by teammates/management. Happens in every line of work and is understandable; you can’t just leave it out as unimportant simply because it is unimportant to you. BUT… I don’t think it has anything to do with it in these cases and haven’t read anything that would give support to it. My thumbs down is chiefly for the Diaby remark. I’m still naive enough to think we’ll get… Read more »

GCM

He and his family are settled in England so I understand why he’d choose to stay here and not go abroad. Also being offered that kind of money is his last big wage packet before retiring, so that’s understandable too. But I can’t hand on heart say I’m not gutted he’s leaving us, he won’t look right in a sky blue top.

Sagna'sMagicHair

Balls.

heavens

Btw I believe they intend to use Bac mostly as a CB. What most pains me is that we could have had at least 4yrs out of him at CB hes a great option to have 🙁

Nickgooner

All I am wondering is what is the point of them getting him in when they are getting a wages cap and have Zabaleta?

Just have a read of his article: http://hereisthecity.com/en-gb/2014/05/19/jm-would-bacary-sagna-be-any-better-than-pablo-zabaleta-for-manc/

If these stats are indeed accurate, there is hardly any difference between the 2 of them.

Flambo

What annoys me is that at the parade, he let thousands of hopeful fans sing for him to stay, and let us clutch at straws, when the much more admirable thing to do would of been to say after our cup final “I have played my last game for Arsenal and want to thank everybody involved with the club”, instead of saying “Im not sure where my future lies”.

DöubleDöubleDöuble

Perhaps he hadn’t made up his mind.

Eddee

Great respect for sagna. He has been with us through the drought seasons and fight with the team. We’ll miss you, your hair on your head that makes the ball goes fuzzy wuzzy twice on sp*rs. The “i don’t give a f*ck” attitude when that little timmy sherwood chuck the ball to your chest is classy. We’ll remember you even if u choose city. And we’ll remember your birthday too. #FAcupChamp

Rectum_Spectrum

Strange acquisition for city. Zabaleta is such an acomplished player. Ah well, good luck warrior sagna, and thanks!

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