Oh this football business is so confusing. So much information. So many assertions and exclusives.
Take this morning, for example, depending on what you read Manchester City have either agreed a deal for Samir Nasri or they haven’t.
We’ve got Nasri! Manchester City claim £19m deal for Arsenal rebel
Manchester City believe they have captured Arsenal playmaker Samir Nasri for £19million. The deal is close to completion and will represent a significant victory for City with both Manchester United and Chelsea also keen on landing the Frenchman.
Man City nab £20m Nasri
MANCHESTER CITY were last night on the brink of completing the £20million transfer of Arsenal’s Samir Nasri. The French midfielder is close to agreeing a £150,000-a-week deal as City step up their summer spending spree
Blimey, it’s all pretty definitive, isn’t it? Not much room for doubt there. No sir. Well, not until you read:
Defiant Arsenal: Nasri is NOT for sale
Arsene Wenger will play hardball with Samir Nasri and tell the unsettled midfielder he is going nowhere
So, someone’s wrong there. It strikes me that the information being used by the various newspapers is coming from different sources. If I had to put a wager on it, I’d suggest that The Mail and The Sun are getting theirs from a more Man City friendly source, or someone close to the deal with a vested interest in making it happen. While at the Mirror, I’d guess John Cross is sourcing his info from closer to Arsenal who, at the very least, are making it look like this won’t happen. Not without a fight. Or a very large fee. One or the other.
Personally, I think there should be a large fee and then a fight. Garry Cook vs Ivan Gazidis, Celebrity Chief Exec-off. Ivan would win hands down. Cook would bluster and boast his way about the ring, telling our man what he was going to do with him, but then, bam, out of nowhere, Gazidis gives him the stare. Game, set and motherfucking match, you nouveau riche bumpkin.
Anyway, I have no idea if City have ‘nabbed’ Nasri or not. If they’re genuinely offering him £150,000 per week then we’ve got little or no chance of holding onto him. As I’ve been saying for some time now the issue is money. The stuff about the strength of the squad and waiting to see what we do in the transfer market is PR nonsense, a smokescreen.
As his agents have made his desire to leave the club public they’ve interested those with the deepest pockets and with not a jot of loyalty from the player himself the club finds itself in an uneviable position. If you give in to Nasri’s demands then what is to stop every other player in the squad – all of whom have agents of various degrees of cuntishness – looking at Arsenal as a soft touch and insisting their man gets a rise commensurate with that of KD Lang?
We might look at the long-term contracts signed by the majority of the squad and openly question some of them. Some of the questions are valid yet on the one hand Arsenal are criticised for not paying well enough, on the other we pay too much for some who don’t deserve it. It makes it more difficult to move players on, yet we don’t have situations like Nasri’s where the player holds all the cards.
And here’s the thing: maybe we can’t compete on the very highest level in terms of wages with clubs like Chelsea or Man City. Yet down the years when Arsenal have had players worthy of the money we’ve paid them. There was not a better paid player in the Premier League than Thierry Henry in his pomp, but his wages were based on his talent and his standing in the game.
Season after season after season he scored goals. He proved himself over and over again. He wasn’t a guy whose purple patch lasted 5 months who was nowhere to be found when the going got tough. If Nasri had done it for us consistently over the last three seasons this wouldn’t be an issue, because the club would reward that, as they have with Cesc Fabregas. Look at the Spanish press talking constantly about him taking a pay cut to join Barcelona. Why would that be?
The problem with Nasri is that he’s demanding superstar wages when he’s a long way from a superstar. A very good player, yes, in spells. He’s got lots of potential but is far from the finished article. He’s developing and improving at Arsenal but he’s had one good period of about 5 months and that’s it. Frustrating as it might be to go through all this I’d much rather Arsenal stood firm and offered him what he was actually worth, not what his agents tell him he’s worth.
Which is where we are, I think. And which is why, if City are offering him £150,000 per week then that’s not something we should worry about too much. Not beyond the usual concerns about how money is the root of all footballing evil, which it is. Arsenal will go on quite happily without Samir Nasri, as it did without Adebayor, without Overmars, without Petit, and without all the players who have felt they’re being under-appreciated and underpaid at our football club.
If he leaves someone will come in and take his place. He will be a fairly insignificant footnote in the history of the club. That’s not to say I think he’s rubbish, there’s no revisionism going on here. Far from it. I would have liked him to stay, sign a new deal, continue to improve as a player and make progress with Arsenal, but he and his people have made that almost impossible now.
And while we’re on the subject – how many contentious transfer deals are Man City going to be involved in? Like Chelsea, and other clubs with seemingly unlimited funds, financial bullying seems to be the norm. Acting without decency, manners and respect makes little difference when you can buy your shiny new toys. Nasri is ongoing, no surprise Adebayor ended up at City, look at Everton’s comments about City when they signed Lescott, Villa were unhappy with the way the Milner deal was done.
If that’s what billionaire cash brings then I’d rather we held our fire, spend what we can afford to spend, and no more. I know no club is whiter than white, every team is involved in dubious stuff, especially during the transfer windows, but I would hate to be like City or Chelsea. It is possible to succeed through hard work. Any old cunt can spend a fortune.
However, I’ll go back to what I said yesterday, this Arsenal team needs investment and it is possible to improve us using what we have. The manager the board can make this summer feel a whole lot better by bringing in the players we know we need. It’s hard work but it needs to be done.
Till tomorrow.
