'Greedy' Sagna slams claims he joined Manchester City for money

Bacary Sagna has hit back at critics who labelled him greedy when he quit Arsenal for Manchester City by saying: “It's not about money – I wanted to boost my career.”

The French full-back has finally joined City after months of wrangling, having turned down offers from Arsenal to renew his contract, which ends this month.

And after helping France through to the last 16 of the World Cup in Wednesday night's goalless draw with Ecuador in Rio, Sagna hit back at the rumours he had been trying to simply hike up his wages at Arsenal, pointing out he had been on the same deal at the Emirates for the past six years.

Sagna is free to move to the Etihad when his contract runs out on June 30 and he said: “I am a City player.”

But he was keen to clarify why he turned down Arsene Wenger's offers to stay in north London.

“I’m going to clear everything up because I keep reading I did this for money and I’m greedy,” he said.

“What I want to say is I have stayed with Arsenal on the same contract since 2008 and I never asked for more money.

“For people who think it’s for money, it’s not. I just wanted to change. I needed a boost in my career and I think it was about time.

“It was not an easy time because we were still involved in the FA Cup and it was hard to stay focused. I stayed focused on my team because I have a lot of respect for Arsenal.

“It’s not easy to read things every day which are wrong most of the time. I told my family to keep away from speculation and I stayed focused.”

And although he finally won his first trophy with Arsenal when they beat Hull in the FA Cup final last month, he admits joining Manuel Pellegrini’s side will give him the chance of Premier League and Champions League glory.

“It is an exciting time for me and my career. I think we have a good team with City and we can do great things.

“Arsenal made me grow up as a player and as a man as well. We finally won a trophy, but it’s not even about that because Arsenal have a quality.

“It’s just that, personally, I wanted a boost. I needed to start again.”