Former Manchester City and Arsenal defender Bacary Sagna could have stayed in the Premier League with West Ham or Crystal Palace.
When Bacary Sagna was released by Manchester City at the end of last season, he probably did not expect to be out of the game for more than six months before rocking up at a side 11 points adrift of safety in the Italian top flight.
The veteran French right-back signed for Benevento until the end of the season earlier this month, with an option for another year.
But even at 34, and with his best days behind him, it was a surprise that no Premier League sides took a chance on a player who spent most of last season as Pep Guardiola’s first choice right-back.
“I had been in contact with West Ham and Crystal Palace since March 2017. In my mind, I wanted to go home, back to London (where Sagna played for Arsenal for seven years).
(But) overnight, they cut off contact without explanation.”
With Benevento almost certain to be relegated from Serie A, the past few months have been quite the fall from grace for a player who remarkably never won the Premier League during 13 years at Arsenal and Manchester City.
And his experience could certainly have come in handy for West Ham or Palace, both of whom have suffered with injuries in defence in recent months and could have done with a player like Sagna both on and off the pitch.
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