Manchester City kick-started a summer of restructuring last month by confirming the acquisition of Bacary Sagna from Arsenal on a three-year deal. After failing to agree an improved contract with the Gunners, the 31-year-old will arrive at the Etihad as a free agent and follows in the footsteps of Gael Clichy and Samir Nasri in swapping north London for the blue half of Manchester:
The History
A product of the FC Sens and Auxerre youth academies, Sagna made his debut for the latter back in the 2004-05 campaign. Over the course of three seasons, the right-back made 104 appearances and provided four assists for the Ligue 1 club – voted Auxerre Player of the Year in 2006-07, his displays persuaded Arsene Wenger to fork out £7m for his services in July 2007.
The Frenchman lasted seven years at the Emirates and with little competition for a first-team place, made 284 Premier League appearances for the north London outfit. Sagna’s raids down the right served up five goals and 27 assists and saw him named in the PFA Player of the Year XI on two occasions – 2007-08 and 2010-11 – though his only piece of silverware arrived just last May, when Arsenal defeated Hull City to lift the FA Cup.
On the international stage, Sagna made his debut back in 2007 and has subsequently turned out for his country on 40 occasions, though his fallen down the pecking order in recent times and remains second choice right-back behind Newcastle’s Mathieu Debuchy.
The Prospects
With a first full season at the helm now behind him, Pellegrini is clearly intent on replenishing his options at the back. Already this summer, Costel Pantilimon has moved to Sunderland, Joleon Lescott has joined West Brom, whilst Micah Richards is also set to leave the club under freedom of contract after failing to convince the Chilean he was worthy of a place in the first-team squad.
Sagna’s arrival affords City a proven Premier League player, who is also capable of filling in at centre-half if the need arises. While that may be all good and well for Pellegrini, from a Fantasy perspective it looks to have killed the prospects of both Sagna and Pablo Zabaleta for the season ahead. With Richards either struggling with injury or out of form, the Argentine was named in the first XI in 34 of City’s league matches last term – Sagna was similarly nailed-on at Arsenal, also starting 34 times, and it looks like his acquisition will merely allow Pellegrini the chance to rotate the spot with far more regularity. Indeed, one look at the City left-back berth, where Clichy made 21 starts and Aleksandar Kolarov managed 18, is perhaps indicative as to what we can expect.
With Martin Demichelis approaching 34 years of age and Matija Nastasic plagued with a back problem, it looks likely that Vincent Kompany will be the one City defender we can rely upon unless Pellegrini strengthens further. At the Emirates, though, Wenger tends to rarely rotate his defence – a potential move for Debuchy would bring him immediately onto our radars, though the likes of Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker remain strong routes into a backline that conceded just 11 times at home last term.
The recently-released Premier League fixture list has handed Pellegrini a tricky opening few fixtures. Showdowns with Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea in the first five Gameweeks suggest that many will steer clear of their defensive assets from the off but even when the schedule clears, Sagna and Zabaleta – with 133 points and 146 points in last term’s Fantasy Premier League (FPL) game respectively – both look set to be crossed off our Fantasy radars unless injuries allow one of the duo to nail down a regular role.
