Recent problems concerning his contract negotiations have flared up interest in Samir Nasri from Europe’s elite clubs. But since the 23 year old Frenchman is regarded by some to be less of a talent than Cesc Fabregas, surely losing the former would be less damaging to the Arsenal squad. However, if possible hindsight is considered it could be argued that losing Nasri would be extremely costly, in more ways than one, for Wenger and his Gunners, possibly even more so than losing their Catalan talisman.
Touted as a possible successor, within the French national side, to Zinedine Zidane, Samir Nasri has proven over the last couple of years why there was so much media hype surrounding his fledgling career as a footballer. At 23 Nasri still has the majority of what could be a very successful career in top flight football ahead of him which has led to recent, speculated attraction from Manchester United and Inter Milan after talks of a new contract at Arsenal stalled last season.
With only one year left on his current deal, Nasri has the majority of the control over exactly how his future career could change direction. With only one year left, if he doesn’t sign a contract extension with Arsenal then the Gunners must push through his sale, within this transfer window, as otherwise he could walk away from the Emirates for nothing next summer.
This in turn would allow the Frenchman to demand a hugely boosted wage packet at another club due to the fact that they will not have had to fork out any transfer fee at all, which would obviously seem attractive to the player himself.
As for Fabregas, it seems a certainty that he will return to Spain in the near future. If not this summer then definitely next. Arsene Wenger should take heed of a similar situation which occurred with Christiano Ronaldo and his transfer to Real Madrid from Manchester United a few summers ago. Fabregas has been both loyal to Arsenal and very professional in how he has handled the constant public interest from the Spanish Champions, but it is obvious that deep down the player wants to go back to the club where he grew up and has many friends.
For this reason Nasri must be considered more important to Wenger, and the Arsenal support, than Fabregas. If Wenger can convince Nasri that the long awaited silverware will come eventually, and that he will flex his transfer muscles during this window, spending considerable cash on some world class quality, shaping a team around Nasri and thus keeping the Frenchman at Arsenal, then it may just be the most important piece of business he does this summer.