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You go on vacation for a week and you think things'll be quiet - the cats got fed by the neighbor, the house is still intact, the job's still there, etc - but things always change, don't they? Stasis is the enemy of sports, and I was catching up on my internets today when this small Twitter series sailed across my transom:
Bacary Sagna: "It is no longer a secret, I am leaving Arsenal, it is certain." #AFC
— Get French Football (@GFN_France) May 29, 2014
Bacary Sagna: "They (Arsenal) made an effort, but the discussions did not go in the direction that I wanted." #AFC
— Get French Football (@GFN_France) May 29, 2014
So, there we have it. We knew it was probably gonna happen, and now we have confirmation that Bacary Sagna's time with Arsenal is at an end. Unlike other big players and little boys who have left, though, this departure was quiet, relatively amicable, and not a source of huge consternation - Sagna will definitely be missed, and he was well on his way to being a legend at the club, but the fact that a 31 year old right back wanted a pay envelope that reads "THIS ENVELOPE CONTAINS OVER £125K EVERY WEEK" was a bit of a stretch.
If Man City, or any other club with stupid amounts of both money and disregard for any sort of business sense, wants to make it rain for Sagna, that's awesome. More power to him; nothing wrong with wanting one last big payday. I would shudder if Arsenal were to pay that much for someone that age, though, so despite my love for his defending, I'm OK with his leaving.
I hope Sagna succeeds wherever he goes, unless it's Manchester.