The Importance Of Bacary Sagna To Arsenal

To continue my posts on the importance of players to a team, I will follow up Theo Walcott with Bacary Sagna.

In his first few years after his transfer from Auxerre in 2007, Sagna proved to be one of the best right-backs in the league and was usually named in the fans team of the season. However, last season he experienced a major performance dip which led fans to believe that he is past his best and should be sold as soon as possible.

He made mistake upon mistake and the fans were growing restless. Wenger decided to keep Sagna at the club for the future and so far this season, his faith in the player has been re-paid as he has consistently churned out top draw performances. But the France international's contract expires in the summer of 2014, which is why Wenger has tried to tie the player down to a longer deal.

Sagna has been, and will be, crucial for Arsenal this season because of his versatility. Obviously, he's spent a majority of his career at right-back, but in recent weeks he has moved to a more central position as he covered Laurent Koscielny during his injury and suspension.

My final point on the 30-year-old, is that at his age he has a wealth of experience at club and international level, which is very important to a growing team. He really is an idol for younger talents on the verge of breaking through to the first team.

The video is a great example, from last season, of why he is capable of playing centre back and that he is a reliable option.

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