Monday 6 June 2011

If You Had To Choose One...

I know the majority of transfer stories at this time of the year are utter nonsense, but this is more a general question to Arsenal fans regarding the future of their team.

We all know the Cesc Fabregas to Barca rumours have been boring the hell out of us for a few years now but the latest story doing the rounds is regarding Samir Nasri's new contract. If you missed it, here are the quotes from the BBC:

BBC Sport - Samir Nasri unsure over Arsenal future
Samir Nasri has cast more doubt over his Arsenal future by admitting he may not sign a new contract.

The 23-year-old midfielder, who is entering the final year of his current deal, has also refused to rule out a move to Manchester United.

Speaking to French sports programme Telefoot, Nasri said: "I don't know if I will sign a new contract, the discussions are ongoing.

"Do I want to go to United? First, we should see if it's real and concrete."

These quotes could very well be bollocks but they did get me thinking. Who is more important to Arsenal? If they could only keep one would Gunners fans rather it be captain Fabregas, or Nasri, the best player in the league for the first half of last season? This question came to mind because I was asked over the weekend whether I would rather keep Gareth Bale or Luka Modric.

Personally I would rather keep Modric because I feel he is more important to how the team plays, Bale is injury prone and I believe we could get a vastly inflated transfer fee for him (because of his Champions League performances) that would help replace him. I also made it clear to the questioner that it would be vital to avoid strengthening Premier League rivals so any sale MUST be to a foreign club; definitely no Bale to City or Modric to United.

Nasri v Fabregas is a similar scenario and if I was an Arsenal fan (yuk!) I think I would rather keep Nasri for similar reasons. As an outsider looking in he now appears as important (if not more-so) than the injury-prone Fabregas and the Spaniard would also bring in a much larger (inflated) transfer fee from Barca to help replace him. Again, definitely no Fabregas to City or Nasri to United.

Obviously in a fan's ideal world their club sells neither and instead get rid of Jenas & Bentley/Denilson & Bendtner, but unfortunately we don't live in that world. Both North-London clubs underachieved last season so it is possible they lose a big name this summer.

I'd be interested to hear your opinions on this.

Cheers,
AM

11 comments:

rwlwhite said...

Personally, as an Arsenal fan, I would rather both left this summer. Controversial I know, but Fabregas is going to go at some point, he had a 'Thierry' season this time round i.e. the dull season before he left, and we would get the best financial deal for selling this summer as his contract is probably at its most valuable in selling terms.

Nasri has said he is unwilling to sign a new contract because we are only offering £90k a week and he wants parity with Cesc's £110k a week. In my opinion he is getting too Ashley Cole-like, and I'd rather he was sold (as long as its not to Man U) so we could bring in someone who actually wants to play for the club. Also, if we don't sell him this summer and he doesn't sign a contract, we lose him for nothing...nada...next summer!

If both were sold, I'm sure, discounting player swaps, we could get anywhere between £60-75million for the pair (40-50 for cesc and 20-25 for samir). With that money we could then look at Eden Hazard, compete for Romelu Lukaku if he doesn't go to chelsea, bring in a south american midfielder like ganso or someone, and add defenders too.

Too me, it makes sense to get rid of them both so we can rebuild a squad. My heart would prefer them both to stay for another 4 or 5 years, btu we know that ain't gonna happen. Cash in while we can is my choice

AdmiraLord Nelson said...

this is of no concern nor will it be of any consequence, just back story and yadda yadda yadda........................

AdmiraLord Nelson said...

but alas keep Nasri as he cant stop running with the ball at his feet and as Fabregas went missing to become a holder last season!

Anonymous said...

Fabregas is the better player, Nasri can not even get to his level, the vision, the way he picks out passes other players wont see. In that aspect i only put xavi ahead of him, prolly exagerating but...

Anonymous said...

Nasri does not have the vision of fabregas and will never have it. I believe injury apart Fabregas isn't giving his best to Arsenal, maybe to drop his market velue or just to piss them off. My verdict- sell
Nasri, 90k a week is good money for what he offers if he doesn't want it- sell

dam1899 said...

Keep players who wants to play for the shirts. looks like it is time for both to go.

capiTeno said...

... wasn't rooney was going to join citeh during his contract talks !!
it sells the newspapers and gives us desperate fans something to talk about till "new" YFF returns
EPL will be a worse place if 4 players of their class leave

greginho said...

if cesc did not have the inevitable move, to barcelona, hanging over his head i would keep him. he is a complete midfielder.
part of the reason his numbers were down, was due to the fact, that last year, he was penalty taker, free kick and corner kick taker when van persie was injured. this year van persie is getting all of that. he has played as if he was exhausted for the last third of the season. he was injured both years, so that is not an excuse. i say take the money and let fabregas leave.

nasri should move to cescs spot. he is not world class on the left. he is just better than arshavin. put wilshere and nasri in the middle with song behing them and go with a 4-4-2.

hazard, elia or my favorite bastos on the left of midfield with walcott on the right. up front van persie will be delighted to have someone else near him to interchange passes with. so chamakh or falcao or leondro damio will start next to van persie. walcott will be so happy to have players in the box for his crosses that never have anyone near.

wenger should not have made cesc captain. vermaelen was for ajax and for country. i say make him captain. i like teams to have defensive captains.

as far as south american midfielders. ganso is injury prone and petulant like ibrahimovic or berbatov. he does not play defense, nor does he run hard. he is the single best passer from brasil.
lucas from Sao Paulo, never stops running, never has a player run past him to score, is a really great passer too, that is developing his scoring. he has had 2 game winning goals in the first two games down here. lucas also is a nice simple guy. he had 8 assists and 4 goals in the SUB20 championship.
another great passer is douglas costa who went to a shaktar donetsk, and played against all of the big teams in the champions league. he could come in cheaper than the previous two. when he was at gremio they won everything. him and hernanes were the best players in the league.

i say add one more forward, 2 of sakho, samba or
verhongten and leighton baines. no need to get anyone else in the center of the park because ramsay is there.

SK said...

I'm not too worried about Nasri leaving Arsenal for ManU. I think he's just trying to push Wenger into the transfer market:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/jun/06/samir-nasri-arsenal-manchester-united

However, if Arsenal fails to make a big statement in the transfer market this summer, then losing Nasri would be the lesser of Arsenal's worries.

greginho said...

wow wenger must have seen my writings. he has made a bid for douglas costa.

Chaos said...

Fixtures are out!

QPR at home to Bolton. Taarabt is a must surely.

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