Nasri: Will he stay or will he go

The deal we all thought was so close to being completed now seems to be at least a mini Fabregas saga away from completion and is threatening to distract us during this vital week in the history of Arsenal football club.

Just last week the Frenchman looked destined to leave North London and some major news outlets were reporting his medical at City was imminent. Nasri himself seemed determined to leave things on a sour note with the fans by responding to chants about him on his twitter page. 


However, due to our incessant midfield injury woes, Samir was included in the squad to face Liverpool, and even more surprisingly he started. Much was made over the reception he would get but personally I think the fans treated him brilliantly, even chanting his name after his brilliant run.


News of him starting was met by news from France that his deal to City had broken down, although after the game Wenger, as he so often does, could not confirm or deny this. All he did say was that the deal was the deal was "far form being done."


Yesterday though, after City's win at Bolton had put them top, Mancini seemed to threaten Arsenal over Nasri's transfer, demanding that he not be included against Udinese. The Italian said:

"It’s a big problem [if Nasri faces Udinese] but I’m sure we can close in 24 hours, maybe 48. For Nasri it will be important he can play in all the Champions League matches."

Coupled with the Barcelona wrangling for two years while trying to get Fabregas, just what do a club have to do to be accused of tapping up these days? Mancini shouldn't be allowed to mention Nasri's name let alone demand that he not be included in a match - although to be honest I doubt Nasri was going to feature anyway.


Mancini went on to say:

“For 40 days I’ve hoped in two days, three days [that the Nasri transfer would be complete]. I don’t know why we haven’t closed it."

 The deal us rumoured to have broken down over agents fees but if City really want their man, then they will pay anything to get him (as we saw with £24 million Joleon Lescott) and the deal will end up being concluded at some stage.


One thing is certain though, we cannot let this distract the team as we enter this most important of weeks. Udinese away can cost us at least £25million (or "a Nasri") if we fail to go through, not to mention the lack of transfer targets we will be able to secure if we can only offer Europa league football. After the trip to Italy we face United and if we lose we could be bottom going into September. 


Hopefully the Nasri deal will be concluded, and soon so we can spend the money wisely. But we've been hoping to sign 3 or 4 quality players all summer and that hasn't happened. Lets pray then that both of those problems are sorted out this week then.