Nominations for Arsenal’s 2012/13 End of Season Awards

With the 2012/13 season review already published, it’s time to relive those moments that would that stood out from yet another exhilarating campaign. Arsenal began the season with a renewed sense of optimism but the departures of RVP and Alex Song despite the acquisitions of Olivier Giroud, Lukas Podolski and Santi Cazorla seemed like a classic case of three steps forward, two steps back.

The Premier League was one hell of a roller coaster ride with Arsenal seriously flirting with Europa League football before usurping Tottenham to the final Champions League spot. The Capital One cup saw the Gunners humiliated after losing to a team 65 places below them in the division. The FA Cup also saw the Gunners lose out to another lower division outfit, as the manager had half an eye on his monumental Champions League clash against Bayern Munich.

The Gunners were an aberration at home before putting up a spirited performance away at Munich.

With no further ado, I’ve created nine categories for the voting sequence (polls) and I’ll be grateful if you select the category that best suits you then place your vote.

Category One: Save of the Season

This season, Arsenal has had the chance to use all three registered goalkeepers as Wojciech Szczesny, Lukasz Fabianski and Vito Mannone have all gotten chances to be custodians between the sticks. While Szczesny undoubtedly had a lion’s share of playing time, Fab and Don Vito also put decent shifts when they were called upon.

The nominated saves of the season include – Szczesny’s one-handed save from Steven Fletcher’s header against Sunderland (away), Szczesny’s save from Loic Remy’s shot against Queens Park Rangers (away) and Szczesny’s save from Arouna Kone’s close range shot when Arsenal hosted Wigan.

Categoty Two: Goalkeeping Blunder of the Season

Of course, a season can’t be complete without a blooper or two. While the likes of Szczesny, Fabianski and Mannone did well to put up decent performances, there were some moments of madness they exhibited that probably made them hope that the ground could open and swallow them up.

The nominated blunders of the season include – Szczesny’s unbelievable gaffe against Southampton (home) that broke Arsenal’s clean sheet record, Szczesny’s lapse in concentration from Andreas Weimann’s shot from “three blocks away” against Aston Villa (home) and Mannone’s weak parry from Alex Tettey’s shot that was dispatched by Grant Holt in that disappointing loss to Norwich (away).

Category Three: Goal of the Season

As expected from an attacking side like Arsenal, the goals have rained in this season but there have been some that have stood out from the rest. Here’s my pick of the bunch – Santi Cazorla’s left-footed belter against West Ham (away), Lukas Podolski’s screamer against Montpellier and Kieran Gibbs’ thunderbolt against Swansea.

Category Four: Assist of the Season

While there have been goals that have been awesome in every sense of the word, there have been some stand out assists as well and I can look no further than – Olivier Giroud’s perfectly-timed chip to Kieran Gibbs against Swansea (away), Giroud’s inch-perfect pass to Walcott against West Ham (away), Giroud’s carefully-weight lob to Lukas Podolski against Montpellier (home), Santi Cazorla’s defense-splitting pass to Podolski against Liverpool (away) and Cazorla’s threaded ball to Walcott against Chelsea (away)

Category Five: Match of the Season

Arsenal fans watch their darling team play week in week out but there will always be some games that would last forever in the minds of the supporters. This season, my pick is – Arsenal’s spirited away victory over Bayern Munich, Arsenal’s 5-2 thrashing of Spurs in the North London derby and Arsenal’s epic Capital One cup encounter against Reading.

Category Six: Worst Match of the Season

While there were games that filled the fans with fits of euphoria, there were other games we couldn’t wait to see the back of. This season, Arsenal has had a plethora of horrible results but I had to sift from a host of them before concluding with – the FA Cup home loss to Blackburn, the Capital One humiliation in the hands of Bradford, the Miguel Michu-inspired home loss to Swansea and the away outing at Old Trafford marred by van Persie’s goal and Andre Santos’ moment of madness.

Category Seven: Most Improved Player of the Season

This season, so many players stepped up the plate to put up much-improved performances in contrast to how they played last season. Many players improved in all ramifications but my pick of the bunch was Carl Jenkinson’s early season performances when Bacary Sagna was still out injured, Aaron Ramsey’s resurgence in Spring, Theo Walcott’s improved output and Per Mertesacker cementing his status as Arsenal’s No. 1 defender with stellar performances.

Category Eight: Most Disappointing Player of the Season

While there were some Gunners that put up improved performances all season long, there were others that were big disappointments throughout the campaign with outings that made the fans call for their heads on a plate. This season, many Gooners have been disappointed with the performances of Thomas Vermaelen, Gervinho, Andre Santos and Bacary Sagna.

Category Nine: Player of the Season

Finally, this is the award that goes out to the best player in the 2012/13 season. All players gave their all to the Gunner’s cause but these individuals stepped up the plate and endeared themselves to the hearts of Arsenal fans. May I present – Santi Cazorla, Theo Walcott, Per Mertesacker, Mikel Arteta and Laurent Koscielny.

That’s your lot, my Gooner family.

Please make your votes count because the results will influence my 2012/13 End of Season awards post.

Feel free to check out how last year’s awards looked like.

Sayonara.

You can download the Gooner Daily  BlackBerry App to receive notifications on your Smart Phone when a post is published.

You can follow Gooner Daily on Twitter  @goonerdaily. I’ll follow back

Feel free to visit Gooner Daily’s  Facebook page and click on the like button.

You can also join Gooner Daily’s Mailing List to get notifications of new posts by email by clicking on the Follow button

 

The Joys of Supporting Arsenal Football Club – Victory Through Harmony

With the 2012/13 season done and dusted, there will be a flurry of articles in your daily Arsenal digest ranging from lessons learned in the course of the season, look back sessions, season reviews and of course, transfer speculation.

However, there will be a guest post in today’s blog from a Gooner from Mars, @Femi4Arsenal, and he claims that when he dies, he wants his headstone to have the inscription – ‘He was once a Gooner’. 

Sit back and enjoy as this Gooner shares his perspective about the joys of supporting Arsenal football club.

****

It all started in a conference room – silence, understandably, dominated the horizon with the only sound emanating from the ceiling fan above our heads and we sat patiently, waiting for the manager of the company to give his speech.

I sat in my allocated seat, alongside the other trainees and we just stared at each other because in my honest opinion, there was nothing to talk about. After all, we haven’t seen each other before but a part of me hoped for someone to break this deadlock with a conversation of any kind.

I certainly wasn’t going to be that person though.

Surprisingly, like a flash, the guy sitting close to me looked disgruntled with his eyes firmly fixed on his mobile phone and he made an awkward sound, much to my bewilderment. But hey, I still had to mind my business. Then, he spilled the beans aloud, and his quotes made me smile like a kid that just received some gifts from his parents,

  “Damn! Robin van Persie is stupid! Can you imagine the ingrate tagging Sir Alex Ferguson as the best coach he has ever worked with?”

In a strange twist of fate, I was sitting in this room for over an hour waiting patiently for the manager with absolutely nothing to do but listen to the swirling sound the fan above me was making and little did I know that a fellow Gooner was seating close to me.

C’mon, who else will want to call Robin van Persie stupid? It has to be someone that has been hurt by the actions of the Flying Dutchman. A supporter of the Pride of London, a supporter of the club that has gone without any silverware of any sort for eight years, a supporter that believes in victory through harmony – a supporter of Arsenal Football Club.

Before I could air my opinions on van Persie to my fellow Gooner, three other gentlemen that played the silent game like me an hour ago already did. After brief introductions, we dwelt on the issue of Robin van Persie, opening healed wounds, reminisced on the past, the current situation at Arsenal and the bright foreseeable future.

Its moments like these that make me love the beautiful game. That is football, it brings harmony, it’s more than just a game. Sometimes, I wish they could rename it to Li-football, the Li stands for Life (I don’t know if that makes sense though).

In my opinion, the less passionate fans would always want to remind you that football is just a game. Tell that to Arsene Wenger that danced on the touchline when Nicklas Bendtner scored that 94^th minute header against Wolves. Tell that the 60,000 plus at the Emirates went into raptures when Andrey Arshavin scored the match winner against Barcelona.

A friend once shared a tale of how his parents sacrificed a lot to provide him with a sound education and now he’s been rewarded with a dream job. You’d bet I smiled and paid tribute to his parents. I call that dedication.

But, back then in college too, my best friend would always save his lunch money so he could go to match viewing centers to see his Arsenal win, lose or draw. In fairness, that is dedication too, forget about the amount of money involved.

Moving over to current affairs with endless tales of North Korea planning to attack the United States and the media frenzy on the situation makes me perplexed, talking about how it’s going to be doomsday if both countries go to war. I’m pretty sure that they haven’t heard about the North London derby.

A game that brings the northern part of London to a standstill, a game that has seen heroes and villains rise from the fold, a game that has seen all sorts of unbelievable drama, thrillers, suspense and most importantly, goals.

I believe keeping a set of Tottenham and Arsenal fans of the same number in a room could erupt a force that would knock the Earth out of space. Down the years, the rivalry between Arsenal and Tottenham has risen to astronomical levels and the balance has shifted with the White Half of North London edging closer and closer to trying to usurp their illustrious neighbors in the league.

After they got a taste of Champions League football, their cravings increased and they have pushed Arsene Wenger’s team to the edge and have breathed hard down the Gunners neck. This season, Arsenal qualified for the Champions League with a win against Newcastle and the players celebrated it like they had won a trophy, but the enemies have made mockery of them for their antics.

As Ifreke Inyang rightly stated, Arsenal celebrated fourth place like a trophy, so what?

In my honest opinion, since 1995, there is something that has been more certain than death, taxes and England losing on penalty kicks – St. Totteringham’s Day.

Mars Gooner

You can download the Gooner Daily  BlackBerry App to receive notifications on your Smart Phone when a post is published.

You can follow Gooner Daily on Twitter  @goonerdaily. I’ll follow back

Feel free to visit Gooner Daily’s  Facebook page and click on the like button.

You can also join Gooner Daily’s Mailing List to get notifications of new posts by email by clicking on the Follow button

Newcastle 0 Arsenal 1: Kos the Boss, Champions League Football, St. Totteringham’s Day

Kos scores the match winner on the final day of the season. Deja fucking Vu

The nerves were tingling, the stage was set and the curtain was closing on the 2012/13 Premier League season as Arsenal marched out one final time with their destiny clinging on the result after 90 minutes. Elsewhere, Tottenham hosted Sunderland while Chelsea hosted Everton in David Moyes’ final game as Toffees boss before he embarks on a new adventure as Manchester United’s manager.

Many Arsenal fans (me included) had hoped for the manager would tweak things a bit from the team that ran riot against Wigan. With Mikel Arteta suffering an injury last time out, I gave some permutations on his possible replacements. I also voiced my concerns about Lukas Podolski’s recent outings through the middle as he had not convinced me enough that he was up to the task.

Even if a part of me believed that Podolski’s brace was enough to keep him in the side, I was astonished when I saw Arteta leading the line at the starting lineup. Despite suffering an injury a few days back, the ‘captain’ was desperate to play at the expense of his health. The manager named an unchanged squad from the team that dispatched Wigan and Howard Webb’s whistle signaled the start of Arsenal’s game of the season.

Santi Cazorla was making his 38th Premier League appearance as he was the only player in the team to play every league game this season. The Spaniard lofted a corner that was nodded to safety by Fabrizio Coloccini but it fell into the path of Theo Walcott that blasted his effort over the bar. At the other end, make-shift left back, Mapou Yanga Mpiwa, made mince meat out of Per Mertesacker before supplying a cut back that was blasted over by Papiss Cisse.

Cazorla swung in another dead ball that was flicked across the goalmouth by Laurent Koscielny. With no Gunner attacking the ball, the Frenchman’s effort skewed wide off the mark. Moments after Koscielny almost contributed to a potential goal in Newcastle’s half, he made a vital interception when he and Per Mertesacker hit the deck to block Yoann Gouffran’s effort after some good work down the right from Matt Debuchy.

Gouffran fashioned a great chance for himself when he waltzed Mertesacker and Bacary Sagna but his tame shot was miles apart and it clearly didn’t match up the decent buildup from Gouffran. At that distance, the least he could have done would have been to test Wojciech Szczesny’s goal.

It was puzzling enough that Arteta started the game and it became more puzzling when he suffered a recurrence of his injury only to be replaced by the Ox, which was out of scope, I taught. Yes, he excelled in the role against AC Milan last season and Norwich this campaign but playing him in the holding role was a big ask in a game of this magnitude.

As Arsenal pushed on for the all-important goal, Kieran Gibbs made some space for himself creating a good pass for Cazorla but the Spaniard’s technique let him down as he launched a poorly-struck effort sailed aimlessly over the bar.

Yohan Cabaye fired a long range drive that was easy pickings for Szczesny but on the Polish goalkeeper’s opposite end, the Newcastle faithful honored the 38-year-old Steve Harper in the 38th minute, as they sang his praises and applauded the stalwart that had served the club for 20 years even through he was on the fringes, serving as a back-up to Pavel Srnicek, Shaka Hislop, Shay Given and more recently, Tim Krul.

Football – It can make a grown man cry…

Arsenal broke away with Walcott sending Podolski through on goal but the offside flag spared Newcastle’s blushes. The German forward still managed to miss the chance and it would have been very embarrassing if he missed that with the assistant referee’s flag down. The last bit of action of the first half saw Hatem Ben Arfa glide his way through the Arsenal defense before blasting his effort over.

In the start of the half, Arsenal threatened when Harper’s poor clearance was intercepted by Aaron Ramsey before he teed up Walcott on his right. With his eyes firmly fixed on goal, Walcott blasted a shot to Harper’s far post but it was parried by the veteran goalie. On the other end, Debuchy was almost sent through on goal but Szczesny anticipated the situation and reacted brilliantly to smother the ball.

Sagna offered little or no threat whatsoever on the right flank but his improvisation won a free kick for his team not far from the corner flag. Walcott took over the responsibility of the dead ball and swung in a cross into Newcastle’s danger area. After the ball ricocheted off Podolski, Koscielny reacted the quickest and showed off his acrobatic side with a swinging shot that almost took out Harper’s head before going in to give the Gunners the lead.

Kos the effing Boss

For a considerable chunk of the season, Koscielny spent a lot of time warming the bench because Thomas Vermaelen played alongside Per Mertesacker on merit, because of the mere fact that he was the captain despite his horrible gaffes. It took some balls for the manager to axe the Verm from the squad but the Mertesielny combo has reaped benefits.

Debuchy exploited some space vacated by Gibbs and drilled a cross that was attacked by Gouffran but Mertesacker used his long legs to good effect as he made a trademark Merteception. For those that don’t know, a Merteception is a vital goal-saving interception made by Per Mertesacker.

Arsene Wenger replaced the ineffectual Podolski with a refreshed Olivier Giroud. Newcastle continued to threaten Arsenal’s rearguard with several pelts into the box and after a goalmouth scramble Steven Taylor was ready to go for the kill but Koscielny yet again made another vital interception before suffering a blow from Taylor. Moments later Jack Wilshere replaced Santi Cazorla.

Just when we taught that one goal was enough to assure the Gunners of a Champions League berth and celebrate St. Totteringham’s day, Gareth Bale scored a late winner against a 10-man Sunderland which made the final moments of the game very nervy. With Newcastle going for broke, spaces were exploited at the back as Walcott darted past Coloccini before skipping past Taylor and placing the ball past a hapless Harper. To Walcott disgust, the ball hit the post and rolled effortlessly back into the arms of Harper.

In the end, the Gunners held on to grab an absolutely vital result, sealing fourth place in the Premier League. Judging from how badly things were in the start of the campaign, a fourth placed finish was welcome. According to the Premier League Form Table, Arsenal was the best team in terms of recent results and won every away game since that stinging defeat against Tottenham.

Wenger’s post-match interview had it all, with the boss expressing his relief in sealing qualification yet again, knowing what the ramifications would have been if Newcastle somehow snatched a late goal yesterday. And of course, a word for Tottenham,

Arsenal's shadow is so big that even with a Chimpanzee Tottenham couldn't swing out of it – @I_am_OGB—
Gooner Daily (@goonerdaily) May 19, 2013

Sayonara.

You can download the Gooner Daily  BlackBerry App to receive notifications on your Smart Phone when a post is published.

You can follow Gooner Daily on Twitter  @goonerdaily. I’ll follow back

Feel free to visit Gooner Daily’s  Facebook page and click on the like button.

You can also join Gooner Daily’s Mailing List to get notifications of new posts by email by clicking on the Follow button

Newcastle Preview: A Champions League Berth Beckons

Finally it all boils down to this…

Win this evening and Champions League football will come to North London for the umpteenth season in a row, anything else coupled with results elsewhere, then we will have ourselves to blame.

Forget about the rash performances in the past, Gervinho’s unfathomable miss against Bradford, Wojciech Szczesny’s poor Parry that led to Colin Kazim-Richards goal in the FA Cup, the shameful first leg outing against Bayern Munich coupled with the spirited performance against the Champions League finalists.

Since Arsenal’s woeful performance that culminated in defeat at White Hart Lane in March, the Gunners have been unbeaten in the Premier League. It started with a sturdy performance against Swansea before dispatching Reading with consummate ease.

The month of April saw the Gunners ease past West Brom before a late surge quelled the threat Norwich posed. A disappointing draw against Everton was followed by a nervy win over Fulham. The newly-crowned champions visited the Emirates in a feisty affair but both sides shared the spoils.

The month of May has seen the Gunners defeat QPR and Wigan with today’s match against Newcastle being the ultimate decider for the club’s aspirations for next season. Fourth place isn’t good enough for a team that has won 13 Premier League titles but it’s more than adequate at this point in time.

There has been talk of a potential playoff with Chelsea but we have to remember that both teams will end up playing Champions League football, irrespective of the result in Villa Park.

Paolo di Canio and his Sunderland hordes will go to the Lane without any pressure of any sort and I certainly do not expect any favors from them, even if Arsenal did them a huge favor by dooming Wigan to relegation. Tottenham will want to do their part in defeating the Black Cats while hoping for the worst for their illustrious North London neighbours.

Newcastle endured a very torrid campaign as they failed to build on their successes from last season. A fifth placed finish earned Alan Pardew the Manager of the Season award in the last campaign but injuries coupled with some atrocious results saw Newcastle flirt seriously with relegation. A French revolution in the winter saw an upturn of their fortunes and the win against QPR confirmed their top flight status for another season.

Arsenal arrive in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in a rich vein of form and would hope to seal a victory that would confirm a Champions League berth as well as celebrating St. Totteringham’s day once again.

To team news, I don’t expect much changes in the squad with the  exceptions being how Wenger would respond to Arteta’s injury, as well as the dilemmas of selections in the left back slot and the center forward position with Giroud’s touchline ban over.

Starting with Arteta’s injury, I’d expect Wenger to make a decision out of four possible outcomes…one would be to bring on Jack Wilshere (that’s nursing an injury) before sending him to the specialist hospital for his much talked-about surgery. There’s the option of trying an experiment with the Verm, as he certainly possesses a few qualities needed for a holding midfielder.

Wenger can also summon the services of a rusty and washed up Francis Coquelin or make some tactical changes by using only Aaron Ramsey as the holding midfielder while Tomas Rosicky and Santi Cazorla play in front of him.

With all this in place, bringing on Jack Wilshere will be the most plausible option with Ramsey providing adequate cover in the middle of the park.

On the left back dilemma, Nacho Monreal and Kieran Gibbs have contested admirably for the right to become Arsenal’s No. 1 left back and this competition has brought out the best in both players. For today, I believe that Monreal will get the nod because of his vast experience and the defensive stability he offers with no disrespect to Gibbs of course.

In attack, I’ll say that it’s good to have Giroud back. Despite his brace against Wigan, Podolski hasn’t convinced me that he can lead the line for the Gunners. His quality is undoubted but he hardly offers a focal point in attack.

With 17 goals to his name, Giroud has enjoyed a decent debut campaign with Arsenal and he was a goal shy of a hat trick in this corresponding fixture in December. With him leading the line with Theo Walcott and Santi Cazorla on his flanks, Newcastle should brace themselves up for a storm.

Enjoy the game wherever you are.

Sayonara.

Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry 10

Arsenal Transfer Rumors: Thoughts on Bacary Sagna’s Arsenal Future

Sagna: Are you staying or going?

Bacary Sagna has been at Arsenal for as long as I can remember.

At the age of 30, he is regarded as one of the senior players in the squad and he has been through a lot in his six-year stint with the club. Arriving in the Premier League with a relatively unknown status, the Frenchman worked his way up the food chain in his debut campaign in England, endearing himself into Arsenal hearts and winning a place in the 2008 PFA Team of the Year.

From that moment he set the tone for what has been one hell of a career in North London.

Despite making up a lot of distance further up the pitch to support his attacking winger on a consistent basis whilst performing his defensive duties admirably, Sagna continued to maintain amazing fitness levels and the number of appearances he made in his first four seasons were staggering, in contrast to his injury-plagued campaign last season.

His moment of glory came with a price, as he injured himself after scoring his first ever goal for the club in that Didier Drogba-inspired 2 – 1 loss to Chelsea in Stamford Bridge. In the 2010/11 campaign, he managed to score two well-taken goals against Everton in Goodison Park and Leeds United in Elland Road. His last goal for the club would be highly regarded as his most important goal as it sparked a revival in one of the most enthralling games I’ve witnessed as an Arsenal fan.

5PUR2

In his time at Arsenal, the fans have become accustomed to his eccentric hairstyle, his beautiful Ludivine, his optimal fitness levels, amazing work rate, his influence on Carl Jenkinson and most importantly, his unrivaled consistency that has been put in question this season. Suffering two broken legs definitely took a toll on Sagna’s fitness and form, but he myst be lauded for trying to come back stronger.

This season Sagna has been a complete shadow of the player I once heralded as the S.I. Unit for consistency. His leg injury forced him to stay at home last summer while Laurent Blanc and his Les Bleus traveled to Ukraine and Poland for the European Championships. To be fair, his replacement, Matt Debuchy, didn’t put a wrong foot throughout the tournament till their quarterfinal exit in the hands of Spain.

While Debuchy continued to deputize for his compatriot in the national side, Carl Jenkinson manned the right back position in the start of this season, acclimatizing himself into the role as well as putting up stellar performances in Sagna’s stead. The Bac Man made his long-awaited return in Autumn and he showed his class in some games while he was an aberration in others.

No thoroughbred Arsenal fan will ever forget his 5-star performance against Sunderland this season.

He was drafted into an unfamiliar center back role after Laurent Koscielny picked up a knock in the warm up but Sagna’s performance against Sunderland would go down as one of his best in Arsenal colors. His cause wasn’t helped with the fact that the stand-in right back, Carl Jenkinson, got a red card that exposed his naivety but Sagna marshaled a defense that held the fort from start to finish. He made a lot of vital interceptions, clearances, headers and was awesome in every sense of the word.

On the other hand, Sagna has had his fair share of stinkers and one can look no further than the games against Southampton (away), Newcastle (home), Chelsea (away) and most recently, the crunch encounter between Arsenal and Manchester United.

Sagna was culpable for the goals conceded courtesy of some sloppy passes that were intercepted by the opposition. Sagna’s positioning has been downright appalling in some games as well, with memories of Juan Mata’s early goal in Stamford Bridge ringing bells in my head. When Newcastle visited the Emirates, Sagna made Gabby Obertan look like Ronaldinho.

Against Manchester  United, Sagna inexplicably chose to send a sloppy pass that was gracefully received by van Persie. In his attempt to seek redemption, a rush of blood to his head saw the Frenchman scythe RVP inside the box, giving the ref no choice but to point to the spot.

When everybody thought that Sagna was going to be axed like Wojciech Szczesny and Thomas Vermaelen after such an appalling performance, Sagna took to the pitch against Queens Park Rangers in Loftus Road and didn’t do half badly. The fullback also played in the recent mauling of Wigan and he’ll be odds on to play what might seem like his final Arsenal game in St. James’ Park on Sunday.

In recent times, Arsenal has had a mass exodus of players that have left for greener pastures. When it seemed as if Theo Walcott was going to join the trend, he made a U-turn and signed a long-term deal that would keep him in the club for years to come.

With Walcott’s future sorted out, all eyes were firmly fixed on Bacary Sagna, as he was tipped to make a move to the free-spending Paris St. Germain but the Frenchman pledged his allegiance to Arsenal (via Sky Sports),

“The transfer rumours regarding PSG? I am 100 per cent devoted to my club, I am only thinking about defending the colours of Arsenal until the end of my contract.

“The fans are angry with me because they heard about PSG’s interest, but I am not responsible for that. I have never had any contact.”

These quotes were made in February with Sagna pledging his allegiance to the Red and White Army. In a strange twist of fate, Sagna has turned things around and has decided to keep his options open,

“I could very well extend my contract here in London but equally I could leave at the end of the season. I only have one year left on my contract. We will see.

At the moment I am fully focused on Arsenal. I don’t know what will happen this summer. I have to see the directors again regarding an extension to my contract. Monaco would be a new challenge. I don’t close any door to PSG, Monaco or Arsenal.”

With Sagna approaching the same scenario Arsenal faced with Gael Clichy, $amir Na$ri and Robin van P€r$i£, the Gunners hierarchy will be forced to make a decision with his future.

There are only two ways to deal with this scenario.

There is the profitable way, where the Arsenal decision makers would look at the prospects of selling a 30-year-old defender to the likes of Paris St. Germain and Monaco that would be willing to spend a fortune for his services, bearing in mind that he has indirectly declared his interest in returning back home to earn some big greens.

With this in mind, Arsenal will reveal their asking price and if it’s matched by the moneybags of France, Sagna will be theirs for the taking. Like Alex Song’s unexpected sale to Barcelona, the sale of Sagna would bring a plethora of divided opinions among fans, pundits, journos and the whole nine yards.

The million dollar question will be: Will Arsenal replace Sagna if he’s sold or will it be time for the Jenkinson dynasty to rise?

Borussia Dortmund’s Lukasz Piszczek has been linked with a move to Arsenal (via Telegraph) and I certainly won’t mind selling off Sagna for one of the most exciting right backs in the business.

There’s also the conservative way, where Arsenal’s decision makers will follow the route used in tying Theo Walcott to a long-term contract. The club would consider the fact that on his day, Sagna is a dominant force to be reckoned with and his past exploits have shown that he’s a dependable player. The club also tied Carl Jenkinson to a long-term deal and would want players like Sagna to be around to nurture the young lad as he continues his meteoric rise in North London.

With this in mind, the club would bear in mind that he has attracted interest from other richer clubs, so they would hand him a new contract extension with a substantial wage rise, tying down Sagna for years to come.

Irrespective of the path Sagna takes this summer, I’ll always have fond memories of the Bac Man that marauded Arsenal’s right flank balancing his defensive and attacking play superbly.

Since the days of Lee Dixon and Lauren Etame-Meyer, Sagna’s performances on the right ranks him with the very best in the beautiful game and Arsenal fans are honored to have such an amazing player in every sense of the word.

Sagna has amassed 235 appearances for the club and I can only hope that he would be able to add to this tally next season but should he decide to seek greener pastures elsewhere, I won’t shed a tear because Arsenal is like the Greek mythical creature, Hydra.

If you take one head out, another pops up.

Sayonara.

You can download the Gooner Daily  BlackBerry App to receive notifications on your Smart Phone when a post is published.

You can follow Gooner Daily on Twitter  @goonerdaily. I’ll follow back

Feel free to visit Gooner Daily’s  Facebook page and click on the like button.

You can also join Gooner Daily’s Mailing List to get notifications of new posts by email by clicking on the Follow button