Fresh Meat: Bacary Sagna

During this transfer window, Remi Garde was wheeling and dealing to patch up and alleviate the weaknesses of his squad. The acquisition of Bacary Sagna completely came out of left field in the view of many.

The Impact may have been an attractive option considering the french population in Montreal and the French presence on the team. Rudy Camacho, Rod Fanni, Zakaria Diallo and the entire staff of the Montreal Impact are French natives. Furthermore, Samuel Piette, Saphir Taider and David Choiniere among others can all speak french.

Throughout this campaign, it was evident that the Impact were in dire need of some reinforcements to shore up the back line. Bacary Sagna’s pedigree and experience in Europe’s elite will come a long way to fix the Impact’s leaky defence.

Before he made the leap to uncharted territory, he worked on his craft for AJ Auxerre in France to become an elite right-back. The French national worked his way through the youth ranks and the ‘B’ team of Auxerre when he finally made his debut for the first team at the tender age of 21. While donning the jersey of Auxerre, he won the Coupe De France in 2005 and he was included in the Ligue 1 team of the year for the 2006-07 campaign.

His fantastic play with AJ Auxerre earned him a £7 million transfer to premier league heavy weight, Arsenal.

Photo by Francesco Pecoraro/Getty Images

Bacary Sagna enjoyed fruitful spells with Arsenal (2007-2014) and Manchester City (2014-17). Sagna played a staggering 267 games in the English top-flight. Sagna won the FA Cup with Arsenal in 2014 and the League Cup with Manchester City in 2016. As well as that, he earned himself a spot on the Premier League team of the year for the 2007-08 season and the 2010-11 season. In the Champions league, he appeared in 67 matches for Arsenal and Man City.

Sagna played an integral role for the French National squad, being the 1st choice right back on numerous occasions. He went onto make 65 appearances for France while playing in two World Cups and one European Championship. He won the silver medal in Euro 2016 after France succumbed to defeat against Portugal.

Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images

Bacary Sagna brings experience, pedigree and depth to the forefront. He’s a calming presence on the back line and he’s a menacing force in the air, like Zakaria Diallo. Additionally, he’s decent at passing the ball from the back.

The savvy addition of Bacary Sagna won’t instantly fix all of the Impact’s problems. However, he can be a short term fix on the back end for the Montreal Impact.

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