Bacary Sagna
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Bacary Sagna | ||
Height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)[1][2] | ||
Position(s) | Right back | ||
Team information | |||
Current team | Arsenal | ||
Number | 3 | ||
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 14 September 2008 |
Bacary Sagna, also sometimes spelled Bakary or Bakari, (born 14 February 1983 in Sens, Bourgogne) is a French International football defender of Senegalese descent, currently playing for Arsenal. His cousin Ibrahima Sonko also plays in England, for newly promoted Stoke City.[3]
Club career
Auxerre
Sagna made 87 Ligue 1 appearances for Auxerre and was part of the squad that won the French Cup in 2005. He also played in the UEFA Cup in each of his three seasons with the club's first team, making a total of 17 appearances in the competition. He was also voted into the Ligue 1 team of the season for his outstanding displays at the right back position.
Arsenal
2007-08 Season
On 12 July 2007, Sagna completed a move to Arsenal from Auxerre for an undisclosed fee, thought to have been an initial £6.1m (€9m) that could rise to £7.45m (€11m).[4] He wears the number 3 shirt, most recently worn for Arsenal by former defender Ashley Cole and most notably fans favourite Nigel Winterburn.[5]
Sagna made his debut in an Arsenal shirt on 19 July 2007 as a starter in the squad that beat Turkish club Genclerbirligi 3–0 in a friendly at Austria's Bad Waltersdorf Stadion.[6]
In his Premier League debut, Sagna started in the 2–1 win over Fulham at the Emirates and again impressed. The French full-back is predominantly a right-back, although he can play centre-back, left-back and in midfield. Despite his recent move to the Premier League, he has displaced Emmanuel Eboué as the preferred starting right-back for Arsene Wenger, while Eboué plays right wing.
On 23 March 2008, Sagna tallied his first Premier League goal off a header from a corner kick to give Arsenal a 1-0 lead against rivals Chelsea F.C. The goal was of particular significance to him as he dedicated it to his late brother who died a month before. He could be seen looking up to the sky while pointing at it. However, he went off injured before Chelsea came back to win the game 2-1. At the end of the season, he was named in the PFA's Team of the Year. Also, Sagna came fourth in the official arsenal.com player of the season for 2007-2008 season, as voted for by the fans.
2008-09 Season
On 4 June 2008, it was announced that Sagna had signed a new deal with the Gunners following a very successful first season. Arsenal have signed him for a further two years, taking his contract up to 2014. Sagna stated. "I love Arsenal, they are a great club", and further added, "The manager is also very good and next season we will be fighting for all the trophies."[7]
International career
Sagna has previously represented the French under-21 team, with whom he also participated at the 2006 European Under-21 Championship.
He received his first senior international cap for France on 22 August 2007 in a friendly match against Slovakia on the road, which they won 1–0, coming on as a substitute for François Clerc after one hour of play. He went on to make his competitive debut for France in their 6–0 away win at the Faroe Islands on 13 October 2007 in the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifiers, playing all 90 minutes. It was his only appearance in the Euro 2008 qualifying.
Club career statistics
- (correct as of 27 October 2008)
Club | Season | League | Cup[8] | Europe | Total | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Apps | Goals | Assists | Apps | Goals | Assists | Apps | Goals | Assists | Apps | Goals | Assists | ||
Auxerre | 2004-05 | 26 | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | - | 10 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 0 | 0 |
2005-06 | 23 | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | - | 1 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 7 | |
2006-07 | 0 | 0 | - | 1 | 0 | - | 8 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | |
Total | 49 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 69 | 0 | 0 | |||
Arsenal | 2007-08 | 29 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 38 | 1 | 6 |
2008-09 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | |
Total | 37 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 2 | 50 | 1 | 6 | |
Career totals | 86 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 0 | 2 | 119 | 1 | 6 |
Career honours
With AJ Auxerre
- Winner
- Coupe de France 2005
- Runner-up
- Trophee des Champions 2005
Individual
- Auxerre's player of the season for the 2006–07 season
- Voted France's best right-sided defender in the 2006–07
- French Ligue 1's Team of the Year 2006–07
- Member of PFA Team of the Year: 2007–08.
- Voted Premier League's best right-back in the 2007-08 season
References
- ^ "PFA Profile". PFA. 2008-11-04. Retrieved 2008-11-04.
- ^ "Stats centre: Bakari Sagna". guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 2008-07-26.
- ^ "Sonko reveals Arsenal family link". readingfc.co.uk. 2007-11-08. Retrieved 2007-11-08.
- ^ "Sagna signe jeudi à Arsenal". lequipe.fr (in French). Retrieved July 13.
{{cite web}}
: Check date values in:|accessdate=
(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=
ignored (|access-date=
suggested) (help) - ^ "Auxerre's Sagna signs for Arsenal". BBC Sport. 2007-07-12. Retrieved 2007-07-12.
- ^ "Match Report". Arsenal Online. 2007-07-19. Retrieved 2007-07-19.
- ^ "Sagna pens Gunners deal". Sky Sports. 2008-06-04. Retrieved 2008-08-16.
- ^ Includes FA Cup, League Cup and FA Community Shield.
External links
- Arsenal.com profile
- Bacary Sagna at Soccerbase
- Articles needing cleanup from February 2008
- Cleanup tagged articles without a reason field from February 2008
- Wikipedia pages needing cleanup from February 2008
- 1983 births
- Living people
- French footballers
- France under-21 international footballers
- Football (soccer) defenders
- AJ Auxerre players
- Arsenal F.C. players
- French people of Senegalese descent
- French people of Black African descent
- Premier League players
- France international footballers
- Expatriate footballers in England