As you will be aware, Gael Clichy signed for Manchester City for a fee of somewhere around £7 million. Clichy (until he left) was the club’s longest serving current player and his impending departure sees the last remnants of our 2003/4 Unbeaten team disappear.

An interesting fact that not many Arsenal fans know, is that when he was 15, Gaël nearly died during an operation to reattach a finger that he tore off while vaulting a fence at the Cannes training ground. Clichy’s heart stopped for around 20 seconds due to a problem with his lungs.

Photo from hkd_shadow on Flickr

Nevertheless, in 2003 Clichy joined Arsenal and, despite spending the first 3 years of his Arsenal career playing second fiddle to Ashley Cole, remains to this day the youngest player ever to win a Premier League medal at the age of 18 years and 294 days. However, this would prove to be his first and only league title at the club.

Cole’s transfer to Chelsea in 2006 meant that Clichy became our first-choice left-back in that year, and was even included in the 2007/8 PFA Team of the Year. His strong performances throughout the campaign earned him huge praise from Arsène Wenger:

“I would say he’s the best [left back in the Premier League] and there’s still more in there. Gael replaced Ashley Cole very well.”

Clichy made 44 appearances in the 2010/11 season, which saw him double his total goal tally for the club by scoring his second ever Arsenal goal in the 5-0 FA Cup win over Leyton Orient (which ironically was his only shot on target in the whole season). He isn’t well known for his goal scoring ability, but that just makes each goal he scores even more special. 2 goals in 255 games for the club isn’t terribly impressive, but he is a left back after all!

Photo from Ronnie Macdonald on Flickr

With Clichy’s departure, Kieran Gibbs will no doubt have a more important role at the club over the coming years. Gibbs continued to challenge for a first-team place, but Clichy’s consistency and lack of long-term injuries meant that the Englishman has been limited to 20 appearances. Kieran started all of our last 3 Premier League games in the 2010/11 season and also made his full England debut, replacing Ashley Cole in a match against Hungary in August 2010.

Despite a few decent performances, Gibbs lacks the consistency that Clichy has provided over the past few seasons. For example, he is not as strong defensively and gave away a penalty in the second-half of our Champions League game against Partizan Belgrade which, luckily, was saved by Lukasz Fabianski.

Although Clichy regained his consistency, I believe that he still has a lot more to give. His tendency to make errors has cost us in the past, and did prove detrimental at times in the 2010/11 season. He must work on his crossing ability and attacking play to remain one of the best in his position. That said, his presence will be sorely missed at the Emirates. Gibbs is more stereotypical of the modern full back and is constantly improving. However, I don’t think that he is good enough to follow in Clichy’s footsteps and I would suggest that Wenger look for a replacement over the summer.

STG 2010/11 Ratings:

Clichy – 7/10

Gibbs – 6/10

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