Nasri To Stay - Mata Deal Close

There finally seems to be some good news at Arsenal, or better news than what has been wheeled out in the last few weeks. Instead of more on Cesc Fabregas' endless transfer saga to Barcelona, we turn to Nasri, who has had his own saga this year, but has now has apparently told Arsenal that he will stay for at least one more year.

While this does mean that he will be a likely departure next summer, it also means Arsenal will be able to squeeze another year out of him, and considering his good form at the start of last season, this is a good thing for Arsenal, who are doing their best to keep hold of their best players.

It is understood that Nasri has turned down Arsenal's new contract offer of £115,000 per week and will run down his contract with a year remaining, due to strong interest from both Manchester City and Manchester United. According to reports, City are willing to pay Nasri £160,000 a week, and had offered Arsenal £20 million for his services - a bid that was rejected.

Meanwhile, the Star makes a very bold and extremely confident claim that "Juan Mata will sign for Arsenal in the next 24 hours." It is a sentence which will delight many Arsenal fans, who have seen the promising young Spaniard play for the Spain Under-21's and his club Valencia after putting in some superb performances.

Arsenal have been tracking Mata all summer, mainly because many thought that he would come in as a replacement for Nasri. However, due to strong interest from several other top clubs across Europe in Mata, Arsenal have had to move fast to dissuade him from joining anyone else.

The 23 year-old midfielder has a £17.5 million buy-out clause in his Valencia contract, but it is believed that he is available for £13.2 million considering his relative inexperience, and it is a fee Arsenal have met. Arsenal's local rivals, Tottenham were said to have attempted to hijack the deal, but Arsenal remain strong favourites.

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Arsenal Offer Nasri New £115k-a-week Deal

Arsenal are to do what Arsene Wenger has promised, and fight as hard as possible to keep the best players at the club, by offering Samir Nasri a new deal worth £6 million per year, according to the Star.

24 year-old Nasri, who has refused to sign several previous contract offers made by Arsenal, has been the subject of interest from both Manchester United and Manchester City. Apparently, City offered Nasri an £160,000 per week deal, double what Arsenal were thought to have originally offered Nasri back when this whole contract saga began.

The Arsenal board are now prepared to meet with Nasri's representatives according to the paper, to negotiate further with a £115,000 per week deal said to be Arsenal's new, improved offer. Arsenal are determined to keep Nasri at the club amid a stronger interest from Manchester City, who are said to have offered in excess of £20 million for the Arsenal midfielder.

They will also be hoping to avoid letting him go for free next season when his contract expires, especially now that Barcelona have confirmed they are in talks to sign Cesc Fabregas. Wenger will apparently tell Nasri that he will be made Arsenal's main central midfielder to mould the side around next season if Fabregas goes, in the hope that this will convince him to stay.

Robin van Persie is also set  to be offered a new contract - an improved one from his current £70,000 a week, even though he has a contract that runs until 2014.

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Nasri Has "Agreed to Leave" Arsenal

After all of the speculation surrounding Samir Nasri and his Arsenal future, it is the Manchester United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, who has given probably the most insight into what is actually going on with the French midfielder's status. Sir Alex claimed that he thought it unlikely that Nasri would be joining Manchester United because the Arsenal play maker had agreed to leave for another club.

The Manchester United manager, who was speaking about a possible Paul Scholes replacement, admitted that Nasri could remain at Arsenal because of the stance that Wenger has taken on the matter - refusing to let Nasri leave the club. Ferguson said:

"I don't think he is coming to United. That is all I can tell you. I think that he has agreed to go somewhere else. That is his decision. He is the manager. If he stands by that decision, it is a brave one. I don't know if the [Arsenal] directors will enjoy that one, but it is possible. Maybe he will have to stay."

The club that have "agreed" to acquire Nasri's services will now become the subject of much debate, and there are certainly enough clubs who it could possibly be, with the Arsenal  man being linked to City and Chelsea, as well as moves to Italy. It will be noted that Manchester United are not entirely out of the race, as Ferguson didn't say explicitly that United's chances were over, though even if he did, some would suggest he would be playing mind games and misleading the media.

Samir Nasri may not be Scholes's replacement, but Sir Alex Ferguson hasn't given up on finding the man who will be, calling on the possibility of a youth player coming through who could eventually step into the midfielder's shoes. However, the United manager did say that whoever United are to bring in - and they are looking - it would only be a step down from Scholes:

"It is impossible to get another Paul Scholes. But if we get a player along similar lines in terms of the quality of his passing and vision, we would have to do something." 

"The difficulty is, if you picked the best four midfield players in the world, Scholes would be there with Xavi and Andrés Iniesta. Then you could take a pick from somewhere else. It is a loss. How do we overcome it? The next few weeks could help us in that respect. Someone could emerge out of the youth team and we carry on."

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Manchester United to bid £20m for Arsenal's Nasri?

The "Samir Nasri to Manchester United" story started off looking like just another unrealistic piece of speculative gossip to be thrown on the enormous pile of transfer rumours which end up not to be true. It looked destined for that large, disappointing, ill-informed pile which raise many hopes only to be let down miserably. However, it has, like all good summer transfer stories, built up a lot of momentum - so much so, that reports are emerging that Manchester United are set to bid an impressive £20 million for the Arsenal play maker, as well as meet his wage demands of £130,000 a week in an attempt to persuade the Frenchman out of Arsenal.

With only a year left on his contract, talks between Nasri and Arsenal were said to be ongoing, but Manchester United's interest has remained throughout those talks, and now it seems Sir Alex Ferguson will turn that initial interest into a genuine bid.

I have previously evaluated the likelihood of Nasri leaving Arsenal for Manchester Untied, concluding that despite Nasri's ambition and United's success compared to Arsenal's drought, he would continue talks with Arsenal and decide to stay. This was of course, guesswork mixed with pessimism, but it seems every day that goes by, a deal seems more likely. Perhaps this is why a Nasri move away from Arsenal is made more likely?

Naturally, there is talk on Twitter about this, with Nasri having apparently already had a medical, or one booked for next week at Bridgewater Medical centre, depending on where you look and what you read. Others say, that despite Arsene Wenger's insistence that he would not sell Nasri to United whatever the circumstances, the Arsenal board has over ruled the Arsenal manager because of the amount of money in the prospective Manchester United bid.

Of course, all this talk must be taken with a few pinches of salt, but it will be interesting to see how this develops over the next few days, as we will surely discover if there is actually any truth behind this. 


Meanwhile, as Arsenal try to keep hold of their players, they are also obviously looking to recruit some new ones, and Ricky Alvarez is said to be a player high on Wenger's list. He wrote on his Twitter account the following:

"Me encantaria jugar en el arsenal, seria un sueño para mi! Ojala dios quiera que se concrete!"

Which translates to:

“I would love to play for Arsenal, it would be a dream for me! I pray to God that this becomes true”

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Arsenal Ready To Sell Samir Nasri To Real Madrid

Interesting transfer news are out and it has been revealed that Arsene Wenger is preparing to cash in on Samir Nasri.

The Sunday Mirror has reported that talks about a new deal for the French international remain in deadlock.

The former Marseille star has one year left on his contract and Arsenal will not allow the agreement to run down further – that would mean the France star would become eligible for a free transfer.

Arsenal will recall paying the price of seeing Mathieu Flamini depart on a Bosman free transfer three years ago.

Both Real Madrid and Manchester City are keen on Nasri, whose contract status means that he would command a cut-price fee of around £10m.

Arsenal would prefer to sell Nasri to Real Madrid if he rejects their own offer – rather than see him embellish rivals City’s formidable squad.

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Wenger and Nasri given bans

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger and midfielder Samir Nasri have both been handed one-match suspensions by UEFA for improper conduct.



The punishments stem from remarks made to the referee by the duo following the Gunners' last-16 Champions League knock out to Barcelona at Camp Nou last month.



Wenger, who will serve a touchline ban, has also been fined €10,000 by the Uefa Control and Disciplinary Body.



The suspensions will apply to the next UEFA club game for which either man is eligible, while Arsenal have been given three days to appeal the decision.



Uefa said in a statement: "Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger and midfield player Samir Nasri have both been suspended for one UEFA club competition match following charges of improper conduct.



"The Arsenal manager has also been fined 10,000 euros.



"An appeal may be lodged against the ruling within three days of the dispatch of the reasoned decision."



Wenger, speaking this afternoon before UEFA's announcement, insisted he had done nothing wrong.



The Arsenal manager said: "If I am punished it will be one of the very few times that I feel I don't deserve it, because I don't feel I did anything wrong.



"I have no chance to speak my mind and I will have to accept it, but frankly I don't feel wrong and you don't feel at ease if you know you have done something wrong.



"This time I am quite relaxed, I don't even listen to what they have to say because I know what I've done and what I have said. I don't feel in this story I will have to be the one to be punished."



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Real Madrid To Rival Barcelona For Samir Nasri

Interesting news are out and it has been revealed that Real Madrid are keeping tabs on Arsenal midfielder Samir Nasri.

It is also said that Barcelona officials have confessed coach Pep Guardiola’s admiration for the French international this season.

According to Marca, Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid have now joined the interest and is ready to rival Barcelona for the former Marseille star.

It is said that both Spanish giants have been encouraged by Nasri’s decision to suspend new contract talks at Arsenal until the summer.

The France playmaker’s father has also been a guest of Barca this season.

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