Sagna has reflected on his time at Arsenal.
With no football on due to the coronavirus crisis gripping the world, we are at least being treated to a decent amount of enlightening interviews from former Arsenal players.
Former Gunners right-back Bacary Sagna is the latest to speak out on his difficult end to his time at the Emirates Stadium, as he criticised the sale of Robin van Persie and Alex Song in particular.
Both players left us in the summer of 2012 in what was a huge double blow, with Van Persie notably leaving us to join our rivals Manchester United.
Sagna had already seen the likes of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri leave in quick succession, but the Frenchman has suggested it was the quick double sale of RVP and Song that hit him the hardest.
Van Persie was in particularly devastating form at that time, having put his injuries behind him to become a goal machine for Arsenal, and he continued that way to fire Man Utd to the Premier League title in his first season at Old Trafford.
“I got upset, not when [Cesc] Fabregas left – because that was quite an obvious move – not when [Samir] Nasri left, but when Robin left. It was like a statement from the club. He left in a way that no-one understood because he was flying,” Sagna told Goal.
“He was a different type of player. An animal on the pitch, a goalscoring machine. When he left, I wondered why Arsenal didn’t try more to keep him.
“Even if they had to spend lots of money, just do it because you have to spend money to get another player. And if you want to win something, it’s going to take time for that player to adapt.
“I didn’t understand that and Alex Song’s move. The two of them left at the same time and I found out reading the French press. That got me really upset.”
How was their leaving the fault of the club? Their hearts were gone. Their bodies naturally followed soon after. The rest is history.
Money or no money, they were gone. It wasn’t up to the club to make them stay. They wanted out. End of story.
Van Persie was the only reason we didn’t win the title when Man U won it right after he left. We were that close. And that snake knew it. That’s why he can never EVER explain it away or live it down. He will struggle with it all his natural life. He sold out.
Song? The less said about him the better.
We had a team that could challenge anybody and Barca knew it. And with how much? With who? They put pressure on Fabregas, turned his head, got him to jump ship and once he joined them they benched the daylights out of him. He won things, so what? He could have been greater if he stayed.
Imagine if that team stayed together for another season…
Thank you gunnerphillic you got it all right. Song especially ruined himself the day he left arsenal. As we heard then Wenger called him to his office not to go but he forced out and end badly. For rvp he was a man of every gunners heart and he pulled himself out of our heart bc he wanted to go to man u. Well good for him but after what happened to him. To me hes a machinery and very ungrateful he left when we need him most after all we did for him. Shame. I realised we dont have to blame Wenger for trying to build a team from the scratch it’s a good idea but we need to focus our attention on bunch of ingrate who we nurtured as a toddler but end up stabbing us in the back. Bunch of judas