Lukasz Piszczek

Gunner89

Piszczek, a 27-year-old Poland international, has been a regular in the Dortmund team that has reached the Champions League final and Arsene Wenger has requested a series of reports on his progress over recent months.
Sagna’s contract expires in 2014 and Arsenal are reluctant to offer more than a one-year extension for a player who is now 30 and has clearly struggled physically over the past year after coming back from two broken legs.
Ideally, Wenger would still like to keep Sagna, who also provides an option at centre-back, and much will depend on what offers emerge at the end of the season. There has been interest from Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan but Sagna’s inconsistent form and contractual situation means that his worth has fallen quite significantly over the past year.
Piszczek’s contract does not expire until 2016 and would be valued at around £12 million, meaning Wenger is likely only to make a firm offer if Sagna is sold. Arsenal’s priority this summer is still a new striker, with a club record bid expected for Fiorentina’s Stevan Jovetic.
Despite a recent improvement in the form of both Wojciech Szczesny and Lukasz Fabianski, the club are actively assessing other goalkeeping options. Arsenal made an enquiry for Asmir Begovic in January and he remains of interest but there would be some doubt over whether the club would be willing to meet Stoke’s valuation of around £15 million.

Manchester United's interest in Begovic has cooled recently, due both to the form of David de Gea and Stoke’s asking price. Arsenal, however, will have their largest ever transfer budget this summer, with around £70 million directly available to Wenger. Arsenal’s financial position will be further secured when a new kit deal is confirmed, with negotiations now almost complete over a five-year partnership with Puma that will add a further £22 million to the club’s annual revenues.
Arsenal had been locked into 10-year deals with Nike and the Emirates since 2004 in order to secure the funding for their new stadium but are now entering a new period of financial strength. They have also recently agreed a front-loaded £150 million shirt sponsorship deal with Emirates.
Arsenal are actively trying to raise their profile across the world and announced yesterday that they will become the first ever Premier League team to play a match in Vietnam on July 17 as part of their pre-season tour of Asia.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/arsenal/10048393/Arsenal-consider-Borussia-Dortmund-right-back-Lukasz-Piszczek-as-Bacary-Sagna-replacement.html

est

Aside from his quality, he's also the perfect age.

Most unlikely to happen though.

lorddulaarsenal

Awesome right back

goon

Yes please. Also in the Mail.

Armor

One of the best in Europe but i'd rather keep Sagna.

Presuming Vermaelen wants out, if Sagna goes too we'd probably need 3 defenders. I think if Sagna was to stay we might just need one, as he could cover central defence too.

goon

Far more likely that Sagna will leave than Vermaelen.

Clrnc

Piszczek is twice the player Sagna is at the moment and probably cheaper on wages so we should be all for this move. Just thinking how many goals Piszczek or any decent RB will add to the side means we should definitely make buying a RB a priority over a new CB.

Unless Sagna is moved to CB he should have no future here.

Rex

I find it quite repulsive how easily some of you guys want to confine Sagna to the scrap heap. Find it strange how you at the one hand can feel anger towards Nasri and RVP for wanting moves away when they stay injury free and perform to a high standard, and on the other hand want a player like Sagna out the door right away after a season where he has been worse than usual. We have a guy here who admittedly has struggled this season, but there are clearly reasons as to why, but other than that has been one of the top players in the world in his position for years. On top of that he has ALWAYS played with an extreme level of commitment and heart, and both Jenkinson and Bellerin are on record saying how he is actively helping them improve. To me - Sagna is one we should keep, for many reasons, regardless of whether we purchase another RB.

Pepe LeFrits

Sign him and send Jenks on loan. We're due an injury at cbtoo so Bacary can cover there.

Gunner89

Sagna has been great for the club Rex no one is doubting that. What one is concerned about is that with 2 leg breaks and poor form coupled with the expected decline with age do we give a wage RISE to a player who will be 31 in February.

My opinions is this-

Good offer sell and replace (anything over 5m)
Poor offer like 3 or 4m then keep him till end of deal and replace

No way we should be offering a wage rise to a player on the decline.

Sagna signed this 6 year deal on the back of the 2007-08 season which must have been poor work on the part of his agent for HIM but a good deal for us. If he'd signed the standard 4 year deal that most players negotiate then he'd have been sold some time back. That along with the fact that he isn's a "fashionable" player is the only reason we've managed to keep him.

Irishgunner

Rex wrote:
I find it quite repulsive how easily some of you guys want to confine Sagna to the scrap heap. Find it strange how you at the one hand can feel anger towards Nasri and RVP for wanting moves away when they stay injury free and perform to a high standard, and on the other hand want a player like Sagna out the door right away after a season where he has been worse than usual. We have a guy here who admittedly has struggled this season, but there are clearly reasons as to why, but other than that has been one of the top players in the world in his position for years. On top of that he has ALWAYS played with an extreme level of commitment and heart, and both Jenkinson and Bellerin are on record saying how he is actively helping them improve. To me - Sagna is one we should keep, for many reasons, regardless of whether we purchase another RB.

Well said.

Rex

He is a fullback. Yes, he is probably due a raise, but fullbacks don't command very high wages regardless and we are not going to make any serious money selling him. I also don't think this is mainly about money from Sagna's pov, I think he wants a longer contract and he should be given one. He should be phased out, not simply tossed to the side because of a disappointing season. There are at least 10 players in our squad where it would make more sense selling them over Sagna IMO.

In my world his season is also disappointing just for the reason that he is compared to his own extremely high standards set in previous years. The guy is coming off 2 leg breaks and has been tossed right into the team with no adaptation period or rest between matches at all. More than anything he needs a full pre season and then he will be ready to go. He is 30, not 35! He is likely to have at least 3 more good to great years in him on the pitch, and he seems to be as good a role model as anyone for up and coming FBs.

By all means sign another RB better than Jenkinson to compete with him, but not giving him a 2 year extension on a moderate pay hike is just stupid.

Captain

It's amazing because Arsenal fans are the first to bemoan getting rid of experience and wanting to follow ManUs example (their oldies have had numerous rubbish seasons).

lorddulaarsenal

I'm all for having experience provided they are still capable. Sagna's not

Kel Varnsen

Rex wrote:
I find it quite repulsive how easily some of you guys want to confine Sagna to the scrap heap. Find it strange how you at the one hand can feel anger towards Nasri and RVP for wanting moves away when they stay injury free and perform to a high standard, and on the other hand want a player like Sagna out the door right away after a season where he has been worse than usual. We have a guy here who admittedly has struggled this season, but there are clearly reasons as to why, but other than that has been one of the top players in the world in his position for years. On top of that he has ALWAYS played with an extreme level of commitment and heart, and both Jenkinson and Bellerin are on record saying how he is actively helping them improve. To me - Sagna is one we should keep, for many reasons, regardless of whether we purchase another RB.

simple. sagna's looks well past it.

Gunner89

Giving a player a wage rise who's turning 31 is setting a precedence. It won't happen and rightly so. At least 3 good to great years? Did you see how rapidly lauren declined? Coming back from serious injuries at that age takes a toll. If piszczek is available for a good fee it would be sensible to get him in and sell of Bac when we can get a fee.

Captain

Or just get him in and keep Sagna for his last year...

Piszcek isn't even that amazing. He's just a good player.

Clrnc

He is so much better than Sagna has been for the last 2 seasons, no comparison. Easily the top 5 RB in the world right now.

I can understand people being sentimental towards Sagna, I love him and his past performances. But these 2 seasons he is clearly past it, and isn't putting in enough effort imo. I see alot of those Denilson jogs more and more often these 2 seasons. Like I said, I don't know is it because he is unhappy about his new deal not having pay rise or heads turned to other clubs already, but we should just do what benefits the club.

It was like this last time when Seaman was past it as well, everybody was calling him to be drop. There is no time to be sentimental here.

Captain wrote:
It's amazing because Arsenal fans are the first to bemoan getting rid of experience and wanting to follow ManUs example (their oldies have had numerous rubbish seasons).

Its not about getting rid of experience, who wanted Pires and Bergkamp to leave?

United kept those players that were beneficial to them. Butt and Phil Neville was shown out of the door as soon as they turn to shit, O'shea and Brown too.

Captain

None of those players were ever first teamers.

For the record, Piszcek didn't even make the top three best right backs in germany this season, let alone top five in the world.

Ray

Get Richards as cover for CB and RB and keep Sagna for at least another season. You could make comparisons between Sagna and Evra who has dipped in form as well.