Pascal Cygan

Pascal Cygan (born 29 April 1974) is a French retired footballer. His favoured position was central defender, but he could also play as a left back.
After starting out at Lille in his country, Cygan would play four years in the Premier League with Arsenal and three in La Liga with Villarreal, in a 17-year professional career.

Lille

Born in Lens, Pas-de-Calais, Cygan started his senior career in the ranks of lowly ES Wasquehal, before going professional with Lille OSC in 1995, making his Ligue 1 debuts that year but also going on to also spend three seasons in Ligue 2: in 1999–2000 he was an instrumental defensive element for the champions and, in the subsequent top flight campaign, helped them achieve a third-place finish, with qualification to the UEFA Champions League.

In this time, Cygan was also promoted to captaincy, seen as a role model to help develop the younger players. He was also winner of the Etoile d'Or, in his last year in France.

Arsenal

Cygan joined Arsenal in the summer of 2002 for £2 million, making his debut in a 1–1 draw against Chelsea on 1 September after coming on as a substitute for Nwankwo Kanu. While he featured notably in some of the team's more important fixtures, he was mostly considered only a fringe player, but did pick up a Premier League winners' medal in 2003–04 after contributing with 18 appearances.

Cygan scored three goals for Arsenal in league action, including an unlikely brace in his first game of 2005–06 against Fulham (4–1 home win). Until then he had only netted once, against Everton in March 2003.

Also in 2005–06, following injuries to both Ashley Cole and Gaël Clichy, Cygan was drafted in as an emergency left back, and was even named in the Opta team of the week on 9 January 2006. Overall, Arsenal won 12 of the 20 matches he played in, and kept 11 clean sheets in the process. He suffered a hamstring injury in January against Middlesbrough and was unable to play again that season as he was fourth-choice behind Sol Campbell, Philippe Senderos and Kolo Touré, with young Johan Djourou also competing for a place; in total, he played 98 matches for the Gunners (including 20 Champions League appearances).

Spain

During the summer of 2006, Cygan was linked with moves to various other clubs in England and Europe. In August he completed a transfer to Villarreal CF for a £2 million transfer fee, joining former Arsenal teammate and countryman Robert Pirès at the club.

On 6 June 2008, after having been fairly used in his first two years, mainly due to consecutive serious injuries to Gonzalo Rodríguez, Cygan signed a new one-year deal. However, following a lack of first-team opportunities in 2008–09, and with Villarreal unwilling to extend his contract for a further campaign, he left the La Liga side in July 2009.

In August 2009, Cygan joined FC Cartagena, freshly promoted to Segunda División, on a one-year deal. Aged 37, he was released by the Murcians and retired from professional football.

Club

Lille

• Ligue 2: 1999–2000

Arsenal

• Premier League: 2003–04
• FA Cup: 2002–03, 2004–05
• FA Community Shield: 2002, 2004

Individual

• Etoile d'Or: 2001–02