Arsene Wenger has admitted that he offered Bacary Sagna a three year deal to stay at Arsenal, but the right-back chose to move to Manchester City anyway.
Stories and spin surround any kind of transfer deal, and although it had been widely reported that the Gunners had only offered the Frenchman two years and no increase in salary, the Arsenal manager told the press today, “You will have to ask Sagna why he chose City. I made him a proposal to stay for three years, but he chose them.
“Had he chosen a long time ago? Maybe – it looks to me like he agreed it a long time before.
“It is disappointing because he came here as an unknown and he became a French international.
“But I also respect Sagna because, until the last day of his contract with us, he was super-professional.”
And that comment about respect is one that people should pay attention to because Sagna gave nothing less than 100% in every game and respected his contract, unlike others.
However, Wenger was keen to play up how different things are at Arsenal now, as opposed to the years when the likes of Adebayor, Toure, Nasri and Clichy jumped ship.
“We are less vulnerable in the market. Over the last year we have bought Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez – five years ago we would have missed out on both of them.”
And isn’t that the truth? We’ve had to go through a lot to get where we are now, but hopefully that pain will be worth it in the years to come.
He always gave 100%, was a fantastic player and I wish all the best to him (apart from against us), but I’m not upset about loosing him, we have had a fantastic window so far, and replaced him with another great RB.
I don’t wish the best to him , I hope citeh loses every match
I wish him well. I just don’t wish him success at his chosen club.
I wish he’d stayed at Arsenal.
if wishes were hair..
i would have hair like sagna’s.
Brilliant moment in the photo, nice touch blogs.
I agree about the picture, he was happy to have won, but when he kneeled in front of Arsene Wenger, i believe it was to say, sorry, that he was leaving, and that kiss on the top of his head from Wenger means that AW forgives him, unless Sagna pours scorn on us, i’m willing to forgive him, he gave out 110% when he played for the red and white shirt.
are you an english teacher? love it
What doesn’t kill you, makes us Champions.
To paraphrase Barry Manilow: we made it through the rain.
I don’t get it. On one hand Sagna said that Arsenal’s terms were not agreeable to him. Apart from that he said he wanted a challenge. Then he runs off to ManC and signs the same 3 year contract, but for more money. And then puts out statement saying it was not for the money?
Isn’t that enough to qualify him as a douche bag?
Easy now. I try not to put an immense amount of value into what people say. Mostly because many people don’t think through everything that they say. These two paragraphs sum it up very well, in my opinion: “But I also respect Sagna because, until the last day of his contract with us, he was super-professional.” And that comment about respect is one that people should pay attention to because Sagna gave nothing less than 100% in every game and respected his contract, unlike others. You can call him a douchebag if you’d like, but what matters is what he… Read more »
Agree with the majority of this. Written very sensibly.
I must admit I will still find it hard to remember him with real affection though. Maybe I’m being naive but I’d like there to be more respect in the game. After so many years at this club which has helped him to become the player he is today, maybe just maybe he could do the decent thing and not sign for a direct title rival. Signing for City is greed and nothing more. A mercenary like you said.
“What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Just don’t pay much attention to anything footballers say.
Like when Arteta claims that he only uses normal wax for his hair.
Bullshit. It’s unicorn blood mixed with fairy dust, obviously.
Exactly!
It usually happens with people who are deeply pious — they fail to differentiate between hypocrisy and reality.
It’s entirely possible that he just wanted a change of scenery. There’s every chance it’s about the money, but bleating that no other club could possibly be nearly as attractive as ours minus financial considerations makes us no better than the Liverpool fans who insist Alexis joined Arsenal because of London.
Sagna was committed to the club right through, properly chuffed when we won the Cup and, importantly, didn’t ditch at a point when he was in his prime and we were at a nadir.
I loved sagna in his pomp I really did but 3 years when he is so obviously past his best?
I think it’s win win all round on this one.
We upgrade our ageing right back, sagna gets his big retirement cheque sorted. We move on.
Sagna’s and Debuchy’s wives have same names. How weird is that ?
Sagna will always be considered ” ex Arsenal” in football history….if he wants to sit on the bench at Citeh…..That’s up to him.
For me, he should go down as a club legend. As a 28 year old I can only remember Lauren & Dixon in the position before him. Amazing over 23 odd years we had only 3 right backs.
Sorry Eboue
Think that debuchy will do a fine job which is more important than a player who finished his contract and found a new one for more money elsewhere
For a team like Newcastle he was great and after Cabaye went it felt like he was the only player interested in football. I think he will do even better than sagna. Also he started gis career as DM so options
If he gets one boo at the Emirates ill….ill, ill do nothing but id be sad
Seriously though, people said we boo’d the skunk just for leaving, cesc, eduardo and soon bac show that we respect an ex goon. Ill always love him :’-(
Bacary was influenced by Nasri and Clichy. All that weekly riches plus average players with medals. Envy and Jealousy
Also he made the decision when Our Pole in Goal fucked up in the CL against Bayern Munich. He decided he had enough
I wish Sagna all the best as he was a guy who never shirked responsibility. If anyone honestly thinks that Debuchy is an upgrade, I say watch him try & keep a line. He often plays guys onside when the rest of a backline steps up. Debuchy is probably better going forward but Sagna leaves him for dead when it comes to defending. Hopefully Debuchy comes out & proves me wrong.
Sagna playing for City should be the least of our worries. Not only have we replaced him it also remains to be seen how much game time hd gets in City. We should be more worried about Community Sheild, our central defensive options and which came first chicken or egg
Reus is on his way
To his local Chinese takeaway.
Yep, that rhymes.
In all honedty hes been on the decline for the last year or 2, good player but the time was right to move on. We’ve replaced the French no2 RB with the the 1st choice! Good business
I’m not like most others view. He came here as nobody we gave him a massive boost in hIs development and then he fucks off to them. Have fun sitting on the bench mate and I hope debuchy makes that his french place his own and sagna never plays for his country again. For those who say he gave 100 until the end… that’s what gets paid a mere 55000 a week to do.
He left after completing his contract.. more importantly he stuck with the club during it’s most difficult times and helped deliver a long awaited trophy… if anything he has left arsenal in a much better state than when he joined.. so if arsenal helped him become the player he is, he has helped arsenal stay competitive through the lean years… he definitely deserves respect for that…
You believe that ?
Some of you lads r trying to kid yourselves if u think Debuchy is as good as Sagna, not to worry though our defence is irrelevant because Sanchez will be busy ripping teams apart saving an average defence from defending.
Is this the same Debuchy that is keeping Sagna out of the national side? I mean if you don’t want him, I’ll do a player swap for Charlie Adams. He keeps saying stuff but I cannot understand a word he says, so we all laugh, slap his back and hope what he said was supposed to be funny.
Interesting that this should come out now. I was told in the early part of this year by someone who moves in the world of agents that he had agreed a deal with Man City. I found it hard to believe at the time because it made no sense to me for him to go from being a first choice player to spending most of his time on the bench as a backup right/centre back. OK, he would make more money but he must already be financially secure and I thought that playing regularly through the final years of his… Read more »
Why does it even cross your mind that city signed Sagna to weaken you, we signed him because he was free and a good player, he just didn’t want to stay at Arsenal as one of the lads say he is financially secure already and city wouldn’t have blew arsenals offer out of the water or anything, the lad just wanted a change. If we were trying to weaken Arsenal do you think that we would of stood by and let you sign Sanchez? We just wanted what we needed, I really enjoy going to the emirates and speaking to… Read more »
To be fair, every club’s fans are the worst on the internet. Almost nobody will talk to someone in person the way they can vent their “rage” on an anonymous forum. Just human nature, unfortunately.
You miss the point my friend. I am not sorry he has gone, we have had the best of him and his legs are starting to go. When he goes forward he struggles to get back, leaving us vulnerable to counter attack through his area of the pitch. We have improved in that area. My point was that I do not understand what he adds to the City squad. You did not stand by and let us sign Sanchez, other than in the fantasy world that many City fans now inhabit. There is a limit on squad sizes to stop… Read more »
Players are obiviously free to leave a club whenever they feel like. I mostly get pissed when they do it in a cunty fashion as in: to and strengthening a rival, fucking off in their prime, not giving us time to get a replacement or in a fashion that leaves us with little or no money. Now, we didn’t get any money for Sagna and he went to a rival. But, he’s on his last contract, so he couldn’t sign a new one and be sold later on again. He went to a rival, but didn’t strengthen them very much.… Read more »
Zabaleta is a bit better than pretty good don’t you think, stick that label on Debuchy 😉
I will only miss ludivine in an arsenal shirt…damn that babe is sexy
I have nothing but love and respect to Sagna. Stayed with us through the peak of his career and respected his contract, unlike others. Even if he moved to City ONLY for the money i understand that. He is 31 and has 3/4 more years in his career. It’s understandable if he wants to make as much money as possible for his family before he retires. Was one of my favourite players at Arsenal and i wish him the best. BTW, does anyone know for how many seasons Debuchy signed? all sites reported he signed a ‘long term deal’ and… Read more »
Lets all wish Sagna best of luck wit his new challenge while we focus on achieving bigger things.
A player respects a contract where he gets paid the average man’s 2 year salary in 1 week! Big fucking deal!
‘When you come into a team like this it’s not hard to motivate yourself, I watched them celebrate last season and three years ago and I wanted to celebrate too.’
So, what does he call what we did last year after winning the FA Cup? That comment with this revelation of a rejected 3 year deal, tells me all I need to know about his motives.
Oh please, some of you Gooners are so spoiled. The guy stayed with us during his best years when we were at our worst. That alone has earned him the right to move wherever he likes. He hasn’t agitated for a move, hasn’t made any noise. He’s not our slave you know, we aren’t ENTITLED to his loyalty. This is a job for him as well, first and foremost. Would you not move somewhere offering you the same contract terms for more money if it was you? Some perspective ffs.
He went for money. His latest presser: ““I spent seven years in Arsenal and had a great time there but I wanted to start from the bottom again, to work hard again and I think I just chose the best city in England and even in Europe. “”I did (speak to Nasri and Clichy), many times,” he told City’s official website. “They said – because they knew I was free and they knew I wanted to move – they said to me, ‘you should come, because we have a great team and we have a great mentality. The players are… Read more »
Brilliant RB for us for the previous years even though we had never won anything since the last FA Cup 2014.
He gave us 100% once he played on the field. Consistent performances & attitude.
Now he have Debuchy on RB, hope he can remain the consistency or even getting better.
My future line-ups for Arsenal in the BPL 2014’2015 (Future or No more signings)
OSPINA
DEBUCHY KOSCIELNY MERTESACKER GIBBS
WILLIAM CARVALHO
RAMSEY OZIL
SANCHEZ GIROUD CAMPBELL
Formation : 4-1-2-3 or 4-3-3
GOOD LUCK ARSENAL! COYG!
Three glaring errors in this, but otherwise I agree with you 100%.
“Meh” what’s done is done, I tip my hat to him and move on, I’d rather put more focus on the new players that are going to lead us to glory….
Actually policeman, he’s saying he left to win things, compete and fight got his place.
Not sure what’s so blasphemous about that. He was automatic starter at arsenal, will now have to battle for his place. He gave us a lot of service. Get a life man
I am aggrieved by his comments. Saying he wants to win trophies with them in a competition we are involved in, presupposes that we are not capable of winning said trophies. And to make that happen, he weakens our team to strengthen theirs. Well, we got Debuchy and chambers and Sanchez and all others potentially joining soon, so suck it Sagna. I only miss Ludivine in AFC jerseys. Hope she never wears those blue rags
Footballers say they’re in the game because they love football and the high pay is secondary. Sagna was guaranteed a start with us where he’ll be rotated at City. Let’s see how he likes being benched every other week. He thinks he’s left a sinking ship, he’s not, he’s left a ship that’s gaining speed after its re-fit.
I think the deal was all about money . but the good thing is we replaced him with even a better replacement that replaced him even at national team wish him well
Wish him luck.
But I don’t understand why he stayed in England…
I don’t wanna see him in that blue shirt with Na$ri and sloppy LSB.
debuchy kept him on bench in Brazil and he now plays the same position at Arsenal
I wish people would just stop saying moving for his last big check. He gets big checks every week. He’s not cash strapped. Let’s just say thanks for the service and move on but you really don’t need to make excuses for him.
I don’t think it will ever be written that the biggest mistake Arsenal made was letting a 31 year old right back leave the club so I am not all that worried. As Wenger stated we are a different proposition to what we were five years ago therefore we can afford this to happen. Ten games into the season and Sagna will be forgotten just like Clichy was…
I really thought he’d be more missed, but it hasn’t turned out that way. 1. We’ve now got Debuchy who’s a smidge younger (though still an unknown quantity to us.) 2. We’ve now got Jenks (hopefully, regularly) running up and down the right side of the Boleyn ground. 3. We’ve now got Chambers, who it seems, can play absolutely anywhere including Goal Shootist in netball. 4. We’ve now got a good look at Bellerin who looks pretty yummy and exciting and whatnot. I like Hector. All this AND we get to see another riveting episode of ‘The curse of the… Read more »
Yes we’ve lost a good player but I do think he was a little more defensive compared to debuchy who I saw play at the weekend and have to say I was very impressed by wish sagna well but think he will spend more time on the bench than playing at city
Shame, would of loved to see his miss’s in our new tighter kit
may the force be with him…
except when he plays against us..
I’m paraphrasing, but in the same interview Arsene also said he was a guy that would kill himself for us on the pitch. I will miss him a lot. I think one aspect people overlook is his technical skill. Which does not pop up much in stats (other than, I suppose, pass completion percentage), but that made him very reliable, along with the ability to start attacks with incisive passes from our half/midfield. The latter does not really show up in stats either. BTW, technical ability is one thing Jenkinson sorely lacks, and might prevent him a career at Arsenal.… Read more »
the way city are even if they win trophies sagna wont play enuf games to warrant a medal so its all about the money worse thingf is he denied that fact, and he probably signed back in january so couldnt go back on it