Thursday 2 June 2011

Na na na na na na na na na Samir Nasri, Nasri, Samir Nasri....

A little over 5 months ago, I would have handed Nasri whatever contract he wanted. It would have been knee jerk but at the time I didn't care, we were flying, Nasri was on fire and we were going places as a result. Now, I couldn't disagree more with his demands that have apparently been made.

Samir wants parity with Cesc in the wage terms and he would like to receive a wage in excess of 100k per week but Arsenal are offering 90k. Our mythical strict wage structure has long gone and certain individuals have looked to exploit this in recent times, namely Mathieu Flamini. I'm now of the opinion that if this is the sort of attitude our players portray during one of the most difficult financial times, as supporters struggle to renew season tickets and/or hunt for buyers to retain their connection to Arsenal because they just can't afford to watch their beloved club, then maybe it's best Samir departed and we cash in.

Nasri does not deserve the same wage as Fabregas, that is obvious. Cesc is vastly superior to Nasri in terms of ability. His vision and passing ability is a joy to behold and he is as the term goes, world class. Nasri possesses exceptional close control and skill but Cesc's style brings much more production on the pitch. There's a reason why one is coverted by the best footballing side and the other isn't. According the Premier League site, since Nasri joined in 08/09 he has been involved directly in 25 goals. In the same time span, Cesc has been involved in 59 (Wiki states it's 42-82 in Cesc's favour in all comps).Those stats speak for themselves. Nasri did step up this season but it was mainly in the absence of our skipper, scoring over half of his goals when Cesc was not in the side. However, when Cesc plays, Nasri takes a bit of a back seat and his performances do dip somewhat. Is this a case of one or the other? There's only one winner there. Nasri needs to realise that accepting he is worth less in today's market than Cesc is still an extremely wealthy position to be in and when he starts posting the numbers his skipper has then he can demand some form of parity. This just smacks of Adebyaor's demand of 80k a week because that was what Thierry Henry was on before he left, obviously Ade added his own spiteful antics to that scenario but the principles of it remain the same.

So Samir, we've offered you 90k a week, sign it or ship out. He's a very good player but one who has not been consistent enough over 3 years and I'm sure we'd be able to get around 25m and reinvest (hopefully) in a more than able placement (Hazard). He's adored by the fans, gets on well with his teammates and he is coached by one of the all time greats but at the moment he's choosing the Flamini route and we know where that ended up.