Bacary Sagna offered Arsenal escape route

By on March 26, 2014

Arsenal’s Bacary Sagna has been offered an escape route from the Emirates as Manchester City have offered the full-back a three-year contract once his current deal with Arsenal expires in June.  While Arsene Wenger has been keen to hold onto Sagna, and even offered him a new two-year deal notwithstanding his usual policy of only offering players aged above 30 one-year deals, the player and club have still been entwined in a standoff in negotiations.  Sagna knows he can probably double his current £50,000-a-week deal should he join City after becoming a free agent, and have the assurance of a three year deal that will keep him tied down at the Etihad past his 34th birthday.

Now, the only thing that stands in the way of the Frenchman completing the well-trodden move over the summer would be if Wenger were to offer a better deal to Sagna.  The 31-year-old even signalled his willingness to stay at Arsenal with a suitable contract, but it is seemingly unlikely he will be awarded with one considering Wenger has allowed Emmanuel Adebayor, Kolo Touré, Samir Nasri and Gaël Clichy all to leave for City since 2009, as well as let Robin van Persie move to Manchester United.  None of those players moved on a Bosman transfer, though, with the smallest sum Arsenal received from City being an estimated $7 million for Clichy in 2011.

Yet City aren’t Sagna’s only option, with Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, Paris St-Germain and Monaco all rumored to be keen on signing him in a free transfer. Internazionale owner Erick Thohir also claimed his club were interested in Sagna, saying: “We’re interested in Sagna because we need to balance the team.”

Right now, we only have [Yuto] Nagatomo and Jonathan [Moreira]. If one of them gets injured, you need somebody else to come in. But it Sagna decided to stay in England, we’d understand and in that case, we might bring in a young player from our academy.”
Sagna has made 205 appearances for The Gunners since joining Wenger’s side in 2007, and after earning his international debut in the same year he has won a total of 39 caps.

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.