Wednesday, 13th February, 2013
Arsenal defender Bacary Sagna admits he is pleased the club have signed Nacho Monreal, a player he says Santi Cazorla told him all about.
The Gunners snapped up Monreal on transfer deadline day last month, splashing out €10M to sign the 26-year-old from Spanish club Malaga.
It was at Malaga that Monreal played alongside Cazorla and already the left-back looks a similar type of bargain.
Fellow defender Sagna concedes he is impressed with how the Spain international handled himself on his debut against Stoke and is sure Arsenal have a good player on their hands.
"I didn’t know much about him", Sagna told his club’s official site.
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"I had a chance to speak with Santi Cazorla and he talked about him. He looks good.
"He had a great game in his first game.
"It’s not easy because he only trained with us once before. I wouldn’t like to be in his position, but he did well.
"It was a difficult game to play in, with a lot of physicality and a lot of challenges. We won and everyone is happy."
Arsenal will have to make do without Monreal in the Champions League however, as the defender is ineligible due to appearing in the competition with Malaga.
Manager Arsene Wenger will be hopeful the Spaniard can contribute towards the Gunners finishing in the Premier League top four this season though, a task which looks difficult at present.
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