Gael left The Emirates to join the club on 4 July 2011, following in the footsteps of four former Gunners on the playing staff in Kolo Toure, Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Adebayor and Stuart Taylor.

The last remaining member of the Arsenal ‘Invincibles' squad that went through the 2003-04 Premier League season unbeaten in all 38 matches, he arrived with a justified reputation as one of the finest left-backs in Europe.

The Frenchman had played only 15 senior games for Cannes before he was spotted by Arsène Wenger's scouting network in 2003 and signed for the Gunners, making his debut on the same night as Cesc Fabregas in a League Cup tie with Rotherham.

He understudied England's Ashley Cole for a couple of seasons, and became the youngest player to win a Premier League medal in 2004 at 18 years and 10 months. After Cole left for Chelsea in 2006 he emerged as one of the mainstays of Wenger's side despite being hampered with injuries.

His pace and speed of thought, allied to an ability to get up and down the pitch in the stamina-sapping environs of the Premier League, made him one of Arsenal's most consistent defenders, while his willingness to join the attack brought a rare goal against Stoke in November, 2008. His second and only other Arsenal strike was against Leyton Orient in March, 2011.

That Clichy is alive to play top-flight football at all is a miracle, the description of the surgeon after his heart stopped for 15 seconds during a seven-hour operation as a 15-year-old.