redwhiteAustrian wrote:
RocktheCasbah wrote:

I was thinking that.

Of course it is, but he could as well move to QPR and face a new challenge too, except for his bank account.

He's one of the best right backs in Europe, why would he sign for them?

I just used exaggeration to get my point across.....the "looking for a new challenge" thing is an argument nearly every departing player uses, and while it might be true to an extent, it rarely tells the whole story.

Aren't you all being a bit silly about this? He's been a loyal, solid pro. No questioning his commitment or professionalism while he was here. Even at our worst periods, he's never complained or entertained offers from elsewhere. He is seeing out his contract and going off to get paid as well as get even better opportunities to win more trophies before whatever little is left of his career at top level is over. What has he said that's so offensive?

He's a great character, been a great servant to the club, and he'll probably never say a bad word against Arsene or Arsenal. If we can't give him what he thinks he deserves at this point, then we can only let him go with our blessing.

Honestly don't get the beef.

Not much of a change in challenge. Infact it's less of a challenge unless you're talking about a fight for a first team spot between him and Zabaleta or Jenkinson.

Might be more of a challenge for his family to settle in dreary Manchester.

He's given us his best years indeed, I've never denied that, nor has he once voiced his concerns about where the club was heading to, when it was really tough some time ago. That's the kind of professional behaviour I'd like to see more often these days, but on the other hand, it's what I'm expecting from any player under contract.

For my liking, and going back to my initial point, I don't need him to say anything if he does indeed leave. I don't buy this "new challenge crap", even if it's coming from as loyal a servant as Sagna appears to be. On the other hand, it's unfair to expect him coming out with "I did it for the money, etc.", hence why I'd rather he kept his mouth shut completely, like he used to ever since 2007.

Pepe LeFrits wrote:

That'd be very rude.

I remember back in the day they tried autocensering on AM it was ridiculous, you couldn't even type Scunthorpe Utd.
It was quickly jettisoned.

Truth is Sagna would stay if we upped our offer by 200k a week

That's the sad, sad truth.

well there's that, and being on a team that realistically challenges for the league and the CL. city's not quite there with the CL yet, but there's no reason why they couldn't - their squad is good enough.

anyway, this critique is absurd... the "new challenge" line is just something you say. like when something asks how you are, you just say "fine". 99.9% of professional footballers are not gooners, and will not accept lesser pay or prestige to play here.

Don't buy that. He's been here long enough to build affection for the club

Nothing about him leaving shows he doesn't have affection for the club. It's always a tradeoff.

I don't begrudge him a move to city. So long as it's not united, Chelsea, or Spurs, he can go anywhere with my blessing.

Consummate professional and he stayed with us during the shitty years.

@lorddulaarsenal wrote:

Truth is Sagna would stay if we upped our offer by 200k a week

And if Rex was in charge thats exactly what we would do.

Do not see why we are still going on about this as i thought the club and most of us accepted that he was gone months ago.
Even the, reported, last minute offer of a 3-yr deal seemed halfhearted and based on the hope that he would take our lower offer rather than the higher paying 3 yr deals other teams were offering due to loyalty.

Nah. If I were in charge, I would have just offered him a good contract right from the beginning. Allowing Sagna to talk to other clubs was well stupid.

Players always talk to other clubs to see whats on offer. Thats why they have agents.

yeah because sagna and his agent are so dumb that they would pass up on the opportunity to see what the moneybags (2 of which are in his home country now) clubs are willing to offer. all arsenal had to do was offer him 3 years at 90k last summer and this would all have been sorted. wrong.

there is a reason players run down their contracts. this was done perfectly by sagna. his last lucrative contract includes a sign on bonus and more than double the wages of his current (soon to be expired) contract.

Burnwinter™ wrote:

Not too worried about Sagna's departure, because I've been resigned to him going for a while, and he has a better right to go than most of our players.

But it's an overarching issue with the club that we never keep any of our best players around into their dotage, and it probably gets in the way of us winning trophies.

While I think thats spot on historically I don't think this case is the same. Sagna has been a great servant but he's not a Pires or Bergkamp type player. In terms of quality he's maybe more like Gilberto but he was treated much worse by the club and left at a time when we had far too many young, inexperienced and frankly low level players.

Right now we aren't missing experience at all. We've plenty of older professionals like Arteta and Rosicky to help the young uns and loads of mid 20s players in their prime too. Guys with real leadership and responsibility.

Of course we've also been in these situations dozens of times before where it shouldn't be a massive crisis because a good but replaceable player leaves yet somehow Wenger manages to make it a crisis.

I think Sagna really wanted to stay, but not at all costs. Had we offered him 3 years and 90k per week a year ago, then I really, really think he would have signed. That's just me though, and I respect that there are other opinions out there.