If the reports in the British media harbour any clout, it would be safe to assume Gael Clichy is the first to be sold by Arsenal as Manchester City are poised to acquire the Frenchman for £7 million.

Compared with the potential loss of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri, the possibility of seeing their first-choice left-back depart does not seem to unnerve a portion of Arsenal fans.

Blessed with blistering pace and a tendency to venture forward, Clichy’s career at the Emirates, having started off with much promise, has stagnated, and with mistakes tarnishing his performances last term, the Frenchman’s ability has divided opinion among the Arsenal faithful.

Similar to their interest in Nasri, it is surprising Manchester City have Clichy as one of their summer targets, given their wealth of options in his position.

Following his arrival from Lazio and his return from an ankle ligament injury sustained in City’s opening league game against Tottenham last season, Alexsandar Kolarov cemented his place as the club’s first-choice left back, with Pablo Zabaleta offering a competent second option.

Judging by last term’s statistics, Clichy’s performances, perhaps surprisingly for some Arsenal supporters, suggest the 25-year-old could oust the Serb at Eastlands next season.

In 33 appearances, Clichy averaged 3.4 tackles per match with 2.6 interceptions. Kolarov offered significantly less with an average tackle count of 1.7 and an average interception rate of just once per game. Clichy also blocked twice as many shots as the 25-year-old City man with an average of 0.4 to 0.2. Despite being 11 centimetres shorter, the Arsenal left-back also has a superior aerial duel success to Kolarov with 51% to 41%.

The mistakes, however, which crept into Clichy’s game last season can be portrayed statistically as the Frenchman committed an average of 2.2 fouls per match - Kolarov’s averaged far fewer with 0.7. The Arsenal man also faltered severely as an attacking outlet too as he registered an average of 0.5 successful crosses per match, the Serb fared much better with his crossing accuracy average of 1.6.

Clichy’s general distribution was generally better than the City defender’s as the Arsenal man averaged 54.1 passes per game with an 80% success overall success rate. Kolarov managed 32.9 passes per match with 77% success.

The Frenchman’s errors last term, however, are what tarnishes his reputation among the Arsenal fans who would be happy to see £7m brought in for a player who has just a year left on his current deal.

For City, Kolarov trails Clichy in the defensive stakes for the large majority, but it’s difficult to ignore the fact the Serb was part of a defence who conceded 33 goals – 10 less than Arsenal.

The arrival of Clichy, according to the statistics, would not see a radical improvement to City’s defence, in fact, the attacking threat down the left flank at Eastlands could see a decrease should the Arsenal man make the switch.