Nasri Deal?????? On/Off, On/Off, On/Off

[PeterParker]

Platini and Blatter should solve this agent crap, instead of the financial fair play fictation. I really don't understand why are we still following this lead, knowing that time is ticking and (looks so far) we don't have any backup players. Mata and Modric are off to Chelsea, Cerci is a definite no for me, Sneijder, a bigger soap opera than Nasri and so on. Give them a ultimatum or they can fuck off, let him stay there. We have 3 competitions this autumn to worry about.

[Chopper]

Well fucking said that man. Let's look at the source of huge transfer fees and wages.

[Mark (Blue Army)]

If this isn't done tomorrow i don't think it will get done at all.

[Ted Hughes]

Adebayor: Appearences 43, goals 19.

Not that tough a lesson imo.

I said an expensive lesson
£25m transfer fee.
£7m a year or so, contract for 5 years.

We had the use of him for 18 months, started well, turned sour. Despite having a good loan spell with Real Madrid we're struggling to get rid of the guy.

We've got the use of him for as long as we want. We don't want him. In one of his last games for us he scored 3 goals. He linked up superbly with Balotelli when he made his debut but never got to play with him again. We dropped him like a stone & stopped playing him completely, preferring to use Jo instead. When he did eventually play, he got 8 goals in 22 for Real. We have chosen not to use him & replaced him. It's our decision that after persuading him to come to the club & putting out a big welcome mat, the next season we've fucked him off. It's not any lesson or anything that was forced upon us.

[Mark (Blue Army)]

Samir Nasri misses Arsenal's Udinese tie

Samir Nasri will not travel to Italy on Tuesday for Arsenal's pivotal Champions League play-off second-leg tie against Udinese, after telling Arsène Wenger that he did not want to become cup-tied in Europe and see his proposed £22m transfer to Manchester City put in jeopardy.

Wenger has been forced to accept Nasri's wishes and he has omitted him from the squad, despite his insistence at the weekend that he was ready and willing to select the midfielder for Wednesday's game as the most important thing was to qualify for the group phase of Europe's elite competition. Arsenal lead 1-0 from the first leg at the Emirates last Tuesday.

Nasri has had his head turned by City and his desire to complete the transfer has only intensified since the weekend, when he played in Arsenal's dispiriting 2-0 home defeat by Liverpool on Saturday and City won 3-2 at Bolton Wanderers on Sunday to make it six points from an available six.

It has been well documented that Nasri stands to earn much more money at City; he has turned down fresh terms of £90,000 a week at Arsenal and he could earn almost double that at City but he believes that his chances of winning trophies are better served by the move. The 24-year-old is also keen to enjoy a successful season with an eye on the European Championship with France at the end of it.

Roberto Mancini, the City manager, who has made it clear that he has been unhappy at the delay in securing Nasri's signature, said after the Bolton game that, if Wenger played him against Udinese and, in the process, made him ineligible to play for City in the Champions League, then the deal would be off. Nasri, who did not play in the first leg because of a one-match ban that carried over from last season, was alarmed at Mancini's stance.

Wenger's selection of Nasri against Liverpool had been a surprise but it illustrated the manager's determination to keep hold of the player, who has developed into one of the club's stars since his £15.8m arrival from Marseille in the summer of 2008. The Emirates crowd got behind Nasri against Liverpool, applauding him warmly when he went to take an early corner and chorusing his name later in the game.

Wenger had said at the beginning of Arsenal's pre-season tour of east Asia that he was so desperate to retain Nasri for one more season that he would be prepared to lose him as a free agent at the end of it, when his contract expired and, in the process, write off a massive transfer fee. Nasri has made it clear that he will not sign a new deal at Arsenal.

Nasri had told team-mates that he was relaxed about whether he stayed or departed this summer but his wish to leave has become concrete in recent weeks and, moreover, the Arsenal board have told Wenger that they will not write off such a huge loss on the player.

The transfer has been close for some days, only to be held up by the fine details, chief among them the payments that are owed to the various agents and lawyers involved. Nasri's non-appearance in Italy will ensure that it remains likely to be completed.

To add to Wenger's problems at Udinese he may have to watch the game from the stands after Uefa found him guilty of failing to abide by the rules of his touchline ban and imposed a new two-match suspension.

Arsenal are furious and have appealed against the decision, which was announced on Monday morning, on the basis that Uefa's venue director had apparently indicated in the build-up to last week's first leg that the manager could communicate with his bench via a third party. Arsenal hope to hear on Tuesday whether Wenger will be permitted to sit on the bench at the Stadio Friuli pending the hearing of that appeal, though the governing body could delay its decision until much closer to kick-off.

Arsenal's dismay is born of assurances supposedly delivered by the Uefa official on site at the Emirates Stadium to the club's company secretary when clarification was sought last Monday over what Wenger would be permitted to do on match day. The club insist they were told that Wenger would be allowed to relay messages to his assistant, Pat Rice, on the bench through the first-team coach Boro Primorac, who was in telephone contact with the technical area while sitting next to the manager in the stand.

guardian.co.uk

[ronk]

Adebayor: Appearences 43, goals 19.

Not that tough a lesson imo.

I said an expensive lesson
£25m transfer fee.
£7m a year or so, contract for 5 years.

We had the use of him for 18 months, started well, turned sour. Despite having a good loan spell with Real Madrid we're struggling to get rid of the guy.

We've got the use of him for as long as we want. We don't want him. In one of his last games for us he scored 3 goals. He linked up superbly with Balotelli when he made his debut but never got to play with him again. We dropped him like a stone & stopped playing him completely, preferring to use Jo instead. When he did eventually play, he got 8 goals in 22 for Real. We have chosen not to use him & replaced him. It's our decision that after persuading him to come to the club & putting out a big welcome mat, the next season we've fucked him off. It's not any lesson or anything that was forced upon us.

He's one of three extremely highly paid forwards where we recently paid huge transfer fees who we are struggling to give away, just as we're struggling to sell Tevez. Sure, our owner can afford the money, but it could have been better spent so we'd have a stronger squad now.

I don't know what happened to change the situation so drastically for Adebayor, but it's clear he had some sort of falling out with Mancini. We have one of the highest paid players in the prem and he's not even going to be making the bench.

Nasri is a very good player, and reasonable value for the price tag. But it's a premium for an unsettled player so close to free agency and we're storing up problems if we keep on doubling wages of already highly paid players. It'll only get harder to keep wages in check.

[DoomMerchant]

Adebayor: Appearences 43, goals 19.

Not that tough a lesson imo.

I said an expensive lesson
£25m transfer fee.
£7m a year or so, contract for 5 years.

We had the use of him for 18 months, started well, turned sour. Despite having a good loan spell with Real Madrid we're struggling to get rid of the guy.

We've got the use of him for as long as we want. We don't want him. In one of his last games for us he scored 3 goals. He linked up superbly with Balotelli when he made his debut but never got to play with him again. We dropped him like a stone & stopped playing him completely, preferring to use Jo instead. When he did eventually play, he got 8 goals in 22 for Real. We have chosen not to use him & replaced him. It's our decision that after persuading him to come to the club & putting out a big welcome mat, the next season we've fucked him off. It's not any lesson or anything that was forced upon us.

He's one of three extremely highly paid forwards where we recently paid huge transfer fees who we are struggling to give away, just as we're struggling to sell Tevez. Sure, our owner can afford the money, but it could have been better spent so we'd have a stronger squad now.

I don't know what happened to change the situation so drastically for Adebayor, but it's clear he had some sort of falling out with Mancini. We have one of the highest paid players in the prem and he's not even going to be making the bench.

Nasri is a very good player, and reasonable value for the price tag. But it's a premium for an unsettled player so close to free agency and we're storing up problems if we keep on doubling wages of already highly paid players. It'll only get harder to keep wages in check.

do you believe that the wages we're offering are really 180K a week?

i don't.

[ronk]

do you believe that the wages we're offering are really 180K a week?

i don't.

I don't know what to believe.

[ant london]

re Adebayor/Bellamy et al I don't think it's inconceivable that one of the quite significant sources of friction re expenditure between Cook/Marwood and Mancini is them likely thinking "will you stop being such an inflexible prick....." as every time he falls out with someone like Ade it is costing the club 10's of millions of pounds.

This is NOT Emmanuel Adebayor or Craig Bellamy's fault.....it is Roberto Mancini's

[JonnyAsh]

re Adebayor/Bellamy et al I don't think it's inconceivable that one of the quite significant sources of friction re expenditure between Cook/Marwood and Mancini is them likely thinking "will you stop being such an inflexible prick....." as every time he falls out with someone like Ade it is costing the club 10's of millions of pounds.

This is NOT Emmanuel Adebayor or Craig Bellamy's fault.....it is Roberto Mancini's

Fair point in one way, but the counter argument would be that Bellamy has been much too good a player throughout a career to have had as many clubs as he has had..the old adage, there's no smoke without fire.
Actually, I would have loved Bellamy to have won more for himself, but he never stuck in one place long enough.

[ant london]

I don't disagree that both players have less than ideal characters in lots of ways. BUT Mancini just ignored completely the fact that his employers had chosen to invest probably upwards of 50million quid (fees and wages) in those assets and that his actions essentially rendered them worthless....actually worse than useless, made them an actual burden and a source of financial restriction for the club.

If that's the kind of thing that would happen more if he got the "more control" that he'd like then I'm pretty happy to retain the status quo.

Correspondingly and on topic I don't think Cookie and Marwood have handled the Nasri and general summer of recruitment awfully well from what we can see....although I understand the fact that we want to send a signal out that we are no longer prime contenders for dry humping on deals.

I can see both sides of the story but much as he's getting exasperated Roberto should take a look in the mirror for a major source of his problems

[stevefromdonny]

i see nasri has asked to be let out of the squad for playing tomorrow, so arsenal will leave him here when they travel to Italy today,


Samir Nasri will not travel to Italy on Tuesday for Arsenal's pivotal Champions League play-off second-leg tie against Udinese, after telling Arsène Wenger that he did not want to become cup-tied in Europe and see his proposed £22m transfer to Manchester City put in jeopardy.

Wenger has been forced to accept Nasri's wishes and he has omitted him from the squad, despite his insistence at the weekend that he was ready and willing to select the midfielder for Wednesday's game as the most important thing was to qualify for the group phase of Europe's elite competition. Arsenal lead 1-0 from the first leg at the Emirates last Tuesday.

Nasri has had his head turned by City and his desire to complete the transfer has only intensified since the weekend, when he played in Arsenal's dispiriting 2-0 home defeat by Liverpool on Saturday and City won 3-2 at Bolton Wanderers on Sunday to make it six points from an available six.

It has been well documented that Nasri stands to earn much more money at City; he has turned down fresh terms of £90,000 a week at Arsenal and he could earn almost double that at City but he believes that his chances of winning trophies are better served by the move. The 24-year-old is also keen to enjoy a successful season with an eye on the European Championship with France at the end of it.

Roberto Mancini, the City manager, who has made it clear that he has been unhappy at the delay in securing Nasri's signature, said after the Bolton game that, if Wenger played him against Udinese and, in the process, made him ineligible to play for City in the Champions League, then the deal would be off. Nasri, who did not play in the first leg because of a one-match ban that carried over from last season, was alarmed at Mancini's stance.

Wenger's selection of Nasri against Liverpool had been a surprise but it illustrated the manager's determination to keep hold of the player, who has developed into one of the club's stars since his £15.8m arrival from Marseille in the summer of 2008. The Emirates crowd got behind Nasri against Liverpool, applauding him warmly when he went to take an early corner and chorusing his name later in the game.

Wenger had said at the beginning of Arsenal's pre-season tour of east Asia that he was so desperate to retain Nasri for one more season that he would be prepared to lose him as a free agent at the end of it, when his contract expired and, in the process, write off a massive transfer fee. Nasri has made it clear that he will not sign a new deal at Arsenal.

Nasri had told team-mates that he was relaxed about whether he stayed or departed this summer but his wish to leave has become concrete in recent weeks and, moreover, the Arsenal board have told Wenger that they will not write off such a huge loss on the player.

The transfer has been close for some days, only to be held up by the fine details, chief among them the payments that are owed to the various agents and lawyers involved. Nasri's non-appearance in Italy will ensure that it remains likely to be completed.
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Samir Nasri · Arsenal · Manchester City · Arsène Wenger · Champions League 2011-12 · Champions League 2011-12 qualifiers · Champions League
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so it does look like we will be signing him, then again

[irblinx]

I don't disagree that both players have less than ideal characters in lots of ways. BUT Mancini just ignored completely the fact that his employers had chosen to invest probably upwards of 50million quid (fees and wages) in those assets and that his actions essentially rendered them worthless....actually worse than useless, made them an actual burden and a source of financial restriction for the club.

If that's the kind of thing that would happen more if he got the "more control" that he'd like then I'm pretty happy to retain the status quo.

Correspondingly and on topic I don't think Cookie and Marwood have handled the Nasri and general summer of recruitment awfully well from what we can see....although I understand the fact that we want to send a signal out that we are no longer prime contenders for dry humping on deals.

I can see both sides of the story but much as he's getting exasperated Roberto should take a look in the mirror for a major source of his problems

Every manager worth his salt would do the same, having the belief in your own judgement of a player is surely a pre-requisite for succeeding in the game. He has taken a look at some of Hughes' signings and said they aren't good enough for whatever reason. He can probably also point to the fact that the player he signed that didn't work out was moved on at a profit. We are constantly told by the press that Mancini is under huge pressure to deliver silverware so is it so surprising that he has frozen out anyone who he doesn't feel adds anything. Having said that he obviously needs to be here a lot longer to have the sort of control he seeks which seems unlikely in the modern game.

Cook and Marwood have made some strange decisions with transfers/contracts and I'm not convinced their getting it right but it falls to them to look long term as their roles and that of their team are more likely to provide continuity than the manager.

[Cityfan]

Every manager worth his salt would do the same, having the belief in your own judgement of a player is surely a pre-requisite for succeeding in the game. He has taken a look at some of Hughes' signings and said they aren't good enough for whatever reason. He can probably also point to the fact that the player he signed that didn't work out was moved on at a profit.

Every manager may like to have purely his own players the reality is for every other manager in the game they have to deal with the failings of previous manager unless like Ferguson/ Wenger they have been there since the ark.

[Ted Hughes]

Every manager worth his salt would do the same, having the belief in your own judgement of a player is surely a pre-requisite for succeeding in the game. He has taken a look at some of Hughes' signings and said they aren't good enough for whatever reason. He can probably also point to the fact that the player he signed that didn't work out was moved on at a profit.

Every manager may like to have purely his own players the reality is for every other manager in the game they have to deal with the failings of previous manager unless like Ferguson/ Wenger they have been there since the ark.

Ferguson had to deal with much worse problems tbf as he had a dressing room full of alcoholics who the fans loved. He had little choice but to move them on eventually, which made him pretty unpopular.

Re Nasri; if City, as has been said, have a policy of not paying these rip off agent's fees & presumably didn't pay them for Silva, Yaya & Aguero, then it's correct to do the same with Nasri. If his agent is the problem & he really wants to sign, he can deal with it, which it looks like he may now be doing.

Of course, if it was Lionel Messi, we'd have to be more flexible...

[twosips]

I'm sure Mancini is capable of managing a bunch of players that aren't necessarily his own, however it's pretty obvious that Mancini was promised he'd be allowed to build his own team - bearing that in mind it's only fair then that he has the right to prove himself with the players he wants given he was given the permission to do so in the first place.

[guv111]

On the back of talk about us signing Scott "bloody" Parker, Samir Nasri suddenly looks to me like a ray of light once more.

Maybe that's City's ploy?

[Ted Hughes]

I'm sure Mancini is capable of managing a bunch of players that aren't necessarily his own, however it's pretty obvious that Mancini was promised he'd be allowed to build his own team - bearing that in mind it's only fair then that he has the right to prove himself with the players he wants given he was given the permission to do so in the first place.

I don't think he's been exactly starved of funds so far.

[johnny crossan]

extract from Arsenal OS

Team news: Wilshere, Djourou, Squillaci


Arsène Wenger reported the following team news when he faced the press after the Liverpool game:

on the players who could return against Udinese…
Song and Gervinho [are back from suspension], maybe Wilshere will be back. Djourou has a chance. We have four or five players who could come back.

on Jack Wilshere…
He has a chance to play, yes. He trained on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

on whether Sebastien Squillaci is available...
No, he has a calf problem.

no mention of Nasri

on the other hand from Le Grove Blog

Samir Nasri…

The deal for out piggy little Frenchman should be concluded before Wednesday, apparently it hinges on Samir’s Dad wanting to take £3million for his part in the 3 week deal. It’s a struggle to see where Sammy gets his lust for the mercenary lifestyle eh? Arsenal are posturing over the final part of the deal, but good riddance I say. I’m sure we can find someone else who can give us more than 3 months value in 3 years. I struggle to see how he fits into their system, but who cares eh? As long as someone like Eden Hazard replaces him, I’m not fussed.

- is it right that Nasir's agent is his Dad?

[Ted Hughes]

extract from Arsenal OS

Team news: Wilshere, Djourou, Squillaci


Arsène Wenger reported the following team news when he faced the press after the Liverpool game:

on the players who could return against Udinese…
Song and Gervinho [are back from suspension], maybe Wilshere will be back. Djourou has a chance. We have four or five players who could come back.

on Jack Wilshere…
He has a chance to play, yes. He trained on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

on whether Sebastien Squillaci is available...
No, he has a calf problem.

no mention of Nasri

on the other hand from Le Grove Blog

Samir Nasri…

The deal for out piggy little Frenchman should be concluded before Wednesday, apparently it hinges on Samir’s Dad wanting to take £3million for his part in the 3 week deal. It’s a struggle to see where Sammy gets his lust for the mercenary lifestyle eh? Arsenal are posturing over the final part of the deal, but good riddance I say. I’m sure we can find someone else who can give us more than 3 months value in 3 years. I struggle to see how he fits into their system, but who cares eh? As long as someone like Eden Hazard replaces him, I’m not fussed.

- is it right that Nasir's agent is his Dad?

Yeah, Ernie Nasri, bit of a character by all accounts, used to hang around with Ronnie & Reg back in the day..