Bakary Sagna: Arsene improves the defence.

First off, the customary pronunciation guide. Its Bacary (with a y, not an i) Sagna, so, using my rudimentary francophone skills, I imagine that would be pronounced back-a-ree san-ya. Not Sag-na, as he will inevitably be called.

So, where does old Bacary fit into to our motley collective down at the grove? Given that Arsene has paid a reported £7.5 million for him (around £6.1m upfront with £1.4 based on myriad performance objectives) I don't think he's the squad player that many fans and journalists are portraying him as, and I think he will, either immediately or very soon, become a first XI player. He's most comfortable, and played most of his football, at right-back, and whilst he has filled in at left-back and, I think, even occasionally at centre-half, I think right-back is where we going to see him.

He looks like a pretty big bloke; indeed, only someone with his build could pull off the frankly appalling hair-style he's currently modelling; one that makes him look slightly like The Predator, from the film of that name. I had conjectured, in fact, that the delay in the transfer might have been caused by Bacary cloaking himself, and then picking off Arsenal staff members, just like in the film. Only when Arnie was brought could Bacary be caged and the transfer complete.

But I digress.

I think he will be primarily deployed at right-back, and occasionally fill in on the left while Armand Traore continues his development. He may be used as more general defensive cover during the African Cup of Nations, when we lose both Kolo and Eboue.

What this means to the rest of our right-sided players is anyone's guess. Reading have already been linked with a £2.5 million bid for Justin Hoyte, but I'm unsure whether Arsene is ready to let him go in an ACN year.

Moreover, Sagna's signing could see Eboue deployed further up the field as an out and out winger. Arsene seems to have hinted at this in a few games this year already and Eboue is certainly stronger going forward than defensively. Football 365 have even hinted that the signing could be the beginning of the end for Alexander Hleb, with Eboue and Walcott vying for the right-wing bearth. I think that this suggestion is pretty wide of the mark, especially with Freddie's imminent departure.

One thing is, I think, certain: we've improved our defence. Sagna has already been called up to the senior French squad, and has been widely touted as the long-term replacement for the legendary Willy Sagnol. Comparisons have also been made to Sagna's own idol, Lilian Thuram. He was clearly a fan favourite at Auxerre, with this forum (thanks to Gunnerblog for the reference) voting him Auxerre's player of the season. Notice that a certain Kaboul, bought recently by a certain other club, polled but one vote. Heh.

Right back was a position I thought we needed to improve on last year, and I'm pleasantly surprised that Arsene has done so with this signing. Hopefully Bakary can add some defensive nous, but also some much needed steel, to a defence that was far too fragile last year.

Now all we need to do is ship out Freddie and buy a new winger. Could Reyes yet return and fulfil that role? Probably not, but we could do with a player of his ability, if not his temperament. And before anyone gets too upset, this long-term target (reportedly) isn't actually that good, as anyone who watched the recent under-21 championships will testify.

So; Arsene's 4th summer signing, two of which are players that can go straight into the side. Let's hope one or two are still to come, but a much stronger squad is starting to take place. Hopefully we'll see one or two of them in action on Saturday.