Cygnan gets his chance

HAVING arrived at Highbury almost unnoticed this summer, Pascal Cygan now has the chance to prove himself as yet another of Arsene Wenger’s bargain buys.

The hamstring injury sustained by Martin Keown at PSV Eindhoven will keep the veteran centre-back out of action for ''two to three weeks,'' according to Wenger. However, the Arsenal boss has complete faith in 28-year-old Cygan, whom he signed for just £2.1 million from Lille.

Wenger observed: ''Sometimes it's the best way to bring on a player who has not played. He had no time to think. He was calm and composed on the ball and that was important to us.

"He was intelligent as well. Now we have a big game on Saturday at Leeds and everybody is focused on that.''

That includes Cygan, who will almost certainly partner Sol Campbell at Elland Road up against the likes of Mark Viduka, Alan Smith and Harry Kewell. The Frenchman certainly has height on his side, at 6ft 4ins tall, as well as experience of the Champions League from last season, even though he has yet to play for his national team. It was in the Champions League that he impressed Wenger, especially against Manchester United, while he was also voted the most consistent player in the French league by the domestic press.

At £2.1 million, however, he was hardly expensive in today's market, although Thierry Henry noted how Wenger is adept at picking up such bargains.

After all, not only was he a superb buy at £10.5 million himself, but there are also Fredrik Ljungberg for £3 million, Patrick Vieira for £3.5 million, Gilberto Silva for £4.5 million and Robert Pires for £6 million. Henry said: ''Arsene always tries to get people no one knows. It seems that it does work quite a lot so you have to give him credit to him for that.

''You also have to give credit to Pascal as it really wasn't easy to come into a game like that. There's a long way to go but he has shown himself very well.'' Cygan spent much of his early career in the lower reaches of the French league system, playing for Valenciennes, Wasquehal and Lille.

However, Lille were promoted to the First Division in 1999 and, following Tony Adams' decision to retire, he earned his move to Highbury on the back of a series of consistent displays.

"If I had wanted a more easy and convenient life, I could have stayed with Lille. But I wanted to prove myself in a higher league and I wanted the challenge of playing abroad,'' he said.

"I dreamed one day I would wear the Arsenal shirt and now that dream has come true.

"It doesn't seem that long ago that I was playing for Lille in the Second Division in France. Now all that has changed. There were other offers but Arsenal really appealed to me. It seems as if I have come from nowhere to sign for a club as big as

Arsenal. Henry also believes that Arsenal had scaled a significant psychological barrier in winning away from home in the Champions League, but warned they must still repeat the feat against Europe's elite. A victory at Auxerre next week would almost be good enough, but while confidence is high after breaking last season's dismal away record in Europe five draws and one defeat in six games Henry insists it is only the start of a long campaign. ''That win took a while to come. Last season, we were struggling away from home so this means a lot to us that we have done that. It was a big barrier for us to cross. But it's only one game and it's nothing to get too excited about just yet as we are not through."

* Real Madrid's Fernando Morientes says the Spanish giants would prefer to avoid Arsenal in the Champions League for as long as possible. "I think that Arsenal are the most dangerous, and we would like to avoid them."