Player Profile – Bacary Sagna

Sagna started his career at FC Sens. 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.

On 12 July 2007, Sagna completed a move to Arsenal from Auxerre for an undisclosed fee, thought to have been an initial €9 million that could rise to €11 million.

Sagna made his debut for Arsenal 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.

On 13 February 2008, exactly one week before Arsenal were set to play the second leg of their 4th round encounter against AC Milan in the Champions League.

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.

Sagna signed a new deal with Arsenal before the start of the 2008–09 season. Arsenal have signed him for a further two years, taking his contract up to 2014.

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.

After recovering from the injury, Sagna returned to the French national team for their friendly match against Sweden in August 2008, playing all 90 minutes in a 3-2 away win for France.