Bacary Sagna is finally closing in on a return to professional football, as he prepares to sign a deal with Serie A side Benevento.

Italian outlet Corriere dello Sport write that the former Gunner is about to sign on with the newly-promoted club. Benevento are rooted to the bottom of the table in Italy, so they need all the help they can get.

Right now, Sagna is still a free agent. Manchester City released the full-back over the summer, and nobody picked him up after that. The Frenchman hasn’t played a senior game since Pep Guardiola gave him 27 minutes against Watford last May.

At one point, I thought maybe Arsenal would sign their former player. Hector Bellerin has the right-back position nailed down, but there aren’t many alternatives in the squad. Since then, Mathieu Debuchy made his return to the side, and performed well enough to end that possibility.

Plus, after refusing to stay with Arsenal when the Gunners wanted him, I don’t think Sagna is too popular with Arsene Wenger right now. He doesn’t tend to forget that sort of thing too quickly, as we saw with Cesc Fabregas. Wages might also be an issue for a 34-year-old just out of Manchester City.

Either way, it seems like the full-back is finally on the way to a new club.