Bacary Sagna has hit back at suggestions from Arsene Wenger
that he was tapped up by Manchester City before quitting Arsenal
to join the Premier League champions this summer.
The France full-back left as a free agent after seven years at the
Emirates, with Wenger claiming last week that the deal with City
had been agreed ‘a long time ago’. But Sagna, 31, has defended
his honesty and denied that the move was motivated by money.
‘I know exactly what happened, everyone knows,’ he said. ‘I’m not
a tricky person. I’m very professional. ‘All I will say is that I was at Arsenal for a number of a years. I
have always been straight. I have always given the maximum,
even when I came back from injury and was not fully fit, I always
played. I don’t know why he said this.
‘I have been fair because I’ve respected my contract. I spent six
years on the same contract and never went to the boss’ office to
ask for more, but that’s life.
‘It’s not about the money. Can you find one player in Europe who
stayed six years on the same contract? That’s what I did and I
never asked for anything.’
Arsenal fans taunted Sagna during their team’s 3-0 win over City
in the Community Shield at Wembley last weekend, even though he
was not playing for his new club.
The two teams meet again at the Emirates on September 13 and
Sagna says he is prepared for more abuse after following in the
footsteps of Samir Nasri, Gael Clichy, Emmanuel Adebayor and
Kolo Toure since the Abu Dhabi takeover of City in 2008. ‘It won’t hurt me,’ he said. ‘I’m ready to expect anything now.
‘It’s not easy to read some comments on social networks. I know
it’s only a small minority and not all the Arsenal fans, but it’s still
not easy to read it because I feel I gave everything.
‘If I was the first one then okay, but I don’t know what to think.
Every time a player leaves they seem to get abuse. There are so
many on social networks but that doesn’t represent the whole
Arsenal family.
‘Of course, I had a great moment with Arsenal. That will stay with
me for the rest of my life, but my team is City now, it is not
Arsenal.
‘To me, I made the right choice and I’m very happy to be here, no
matter what they think. I’m not the first one to leave their club and
I won’t be the last one.
‘I’m looking at my personal life now and I want to fight, get in the
team and give the maximum. I don’t look at the negatives.’ Source: dailymail |
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