Marseille regional paper: Nasri deal to Arsenal as good as signed and sealed! Where will he fit in?

By 1970’s Gooner

The recent speculation regarding Samir Nasri’s transfer to Arsenal is what is known in the journalist trade a “common secret”.

Nasri himself has said right after his last game for Marseille:” “I’ve maybe played my last game at Stade Velodrome. “In any case I wanted to finish well.”

He scored his 6th goal for the club against Strasbourg last Sunday and then ran in all directions by designating his name on the back of his jersey.


It has been reported that an agreement has already been reached by the player’s representatives and Arsenal in a meeting last Thursday in Paris.

The local paper “La Provence” has gone one step further and indicated that the agreed fee will be in the region of £13.5 m (€17m).

We at Arsenal Analysis are pleased that Nasri’s name is seriously being considered by Arsenal as we included the player’s name in our wish list for Wenger’s and the fans summer retail therapy. Arsene’s wish list?

Nasri was born 21 years ago in Marseille and is of Algerian Kabyle origin. Due to his Algerian origins he is also known as the “new Zinedine Zidane”.

He is a relatively short in size player (1.77 m or 5 ft 9 ½) but is lightning quick with a rather flamboyant style but with very good dribbling skills.

You can see him in action on the video bar on the right hand side of this page.

He does sound like a Wenger type of player. In fact the only “unwenger” thing about him is his price tag, which is rather high by Wenger’s standards.

Now just where he will fit in at Arsenal is another matter.

For a start he is another young player in the Theo Walcott mould. In other words he is not going to be the first name on the team sheet every week. But he will be a very exciting player with his wizardry and pace.

Just like Walcott he can play on the wing (that’s where Domenech has mainly used him for France) and just behind the front striker.

His age means that he is not what a lot of fans have been calling for i.e a more mature in the 25 to 27 year old bracket player who will add experience and nous in a youngish team.

And the fact is that if he does join he will probably be another winger fighting for a first team place with Walcott, Rosicky, Vela, Eboue, Hleb (if he stays) and Van Persie (if Wenger opts sometimes to play 4 3 3 with Adebayor spearheading the attack).

However he is a real talented player who will add a viable option on either wing. This will be especially so if Hleb is leaving. Also Rosicky’s rehabilitation must contain some uncertainty and he is injury prone after all.

Ironically Nasri’s last goal means that Marseille will participate in the third round of the Champions league. So there is a chance, if the deal does go through, that the player will be facing his old club at some stage.