One of the biggest On/Off transfer stories in recent times will come to a close on Monday, as it is expected Samir Nasri is confirmed as an Arsenal player. The story started last week when Marseille based newspaper La Provence claimed the clubs had agreed a fee for his transfer.
Then respected French Sports site L’Equipe claimed he had signed for the club, and the transfer would be confirmed just one day later. Young Guns said he would then travel to London for a medical, but then came reports from his agent saying he had other offers, which I believed to be just a ploy to gain more money. However last night a source close to Marseille, said that he had been in London for the medical and had signed a day later. Exactly what Young Guns said.
Update – Just realised Monday is a bank holiday, not sure if Arsenal.com will be updated until Tuesday, lets wait and see.
“The deal has been agreed. The medical took place on Wednesday, he agreed to sign on Thursday and the only hold up is that he is with the French squad at the moment.”
Quotes From The Mirror
This was proven as RMC told their listeners exactly what i said before, that he had been in London recently and had taken a medical before agreeing personal terms. Then last night French team mate Franck Ribery let slip he had left Marseille for the Premier League, all but confirming Nasri’s transfer to Arsenal. RMC also said that the deal would be completed and announced on Monday.
In other news, Hearts of Oak teenager Torric Jibril has spoken about his trial with the club, he seems confident he will sign for the club, whilst his agent says he has “unbelievable qualities”.
Carlos Vela admits he cannot wait to start his career at the club, and guess what Carlos? we cant wait for you to play either. I found it fantastic that he described getting the work permit needed as a “dream”.
Fran Merida will not be featuring in our Loanees report this weekend, as he is away with Spain Under 19s who won 3-1 yesterday. Finally Salamanca Left back Jeorge Alonso is injured for the weekend game, so Pedro Botelho could get his first start in months.
Article By – J.Sanderson
Great news about nasri i think he will be great for arsenal a more attacking version of hleb who can score i have made a video about him if anyone wants to see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceGRAkGmP2I
HEY J.S,
Can you give me an update on whats happening with lansbury and bartley!!
Hello Naga, yes of course.
See these two articles below.
Henri Lansbury
http://youngguns.wordpress.com/2008/04/22/henri-lansburys-rehabilitation-on-track/
Kyle Bartley
http://youngguns.wordpress.com/2008/04/24/another-injury-ruins-kyle-bartleys-debut-season/
j, your reports as always are very informative so thanks for that and keep it going.
the potential signing of nasri will be welcomed as we need a statement of intent and this will offset the discomfort of losing hleb.
what other player do you think we may go for ?
naga gunner, they are probably recovering from a night out clubbing and eating doner kebabs.
I think it is true that Nasri has finally signed for us …it is all over the web just wish the official site could say something about this all
J remember to email me when u have the time
Will be really glad to see Nasri revealed as our player on Monday. Finally!
I think he will be the last player who is on national duty to signed before EURO 08. We wont know if Wenger will sign Hatem Ben Arfa.
Btw, i suspect we have been calling Hatem Ben Arfa by his father’s name. Being a Tunisian decendent, they are most probably Muslim and do not carry a family name. Their last name, are actually their father’s name. Hatem is his name, Arfa is his father’s name. Ben (or Bin), denotes the following name is his father’s name. Just a thought.
Hi, i love ur site it’s so informative on the young gunners. I would love to know what happened to Arturo Lupoli he was a star waiting to happen where is he now?
hi there
anyone heard the rumour of milligan joining us?
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23630749-5003460,00.html
Lupoli is a Fiorentina player, but has had limited chances at ‘La Viola’.
This season he’s been on loan to Treviso where he’s made 16 appearances with 0 goals.
Yep Bergy,
Young Guns reported on Milligan almost a fortnight ago – http://youngguns.wordpress.com/2008/05/01/give-jay-simpson-a-chance-mark-milligan-to-arsenal/
lupoli left on a free transfer to Fiorontina in Italy
I quite like him..was sad to see him leave.
is he actually any good chris?
Milligan? Not really, he’s an average player, I haven’t seen enough of him to judge how good he is but from what I have seen he isn’t anything special.
hay J can i find picture of Nasri in london ?
Any updates on Yoan Gouffran
Milan is planig to lone him up to one of the french clubs
thx Chris
is nasri gonna be the replacement for hleb or was he the midfielder playmaker that Arsene was speaking off?
Yep, by the looks of it Nasri is a straight replacement for Hleb.
sanderson r we gonna sign ben arfa as well as nasri or will it just b nasri and who else do u think we will sign
so then we should still bring in the playmaker?or is Nasri a 2 birds with 1 stone?
hay chris did you nasri in the groove or any body did? thats when i will belive the story
hay chris did you see nasri at the Emirets or if any body did? thats when i will belive the story
No, I haven’t got pics of Nasri in the Grove. He probably met our temporary managing director Ken Friar in a neutral place in London with Nasri’s agent, and negotiations probably went on from there.
sometime the Nasri saga remebers me of Rebery
Abnet, Gouffran plays for Caen. You must be thinking of Gourcuff.
oh sorry! but i saw him play against PSG and Caen won the mach he scord one and made one he is a bit like Theo
Obviously it’s great news that Arsenal are signing Samir Nasri, and thanks for the report! But J.S. can you say something about what financial power we have and can we expect another signing like Diego, Ben Arfa, Miguel Veloso? I presume that these will cost at least 20 million euros… I love to hear about the teenagers being signed, so please if there’s any news let me know!
J.S has Torric Jibril already had his trial?
Thanks J.S.
Keep up the good work, really appreciate it!!
Sanderson are you Myles Palmer’s lovechild?.. A fair bit of big-noting.. “Exaactly what I said..”, “Exactly what young guns said”.. Good, informative website but somehow it shits me off as much as the dribble of myles or those bell ends at ‘Le Grove’. Mind you don’t blame you with all the brown-nosers that come onto the site.. “your the best J, xoxo”
Ken Frair is the man who does the transfers since Dein has left, and from what i have heared Hleb is in talks with Barcelona.
Jonty no he has not, as i reported earlier in the week, its not until early June
By the way J.S.
I am worried hearing that lansbury is a real party goer ala ronaldinho, robinho etc, and that it could ruin his career.
Is there any truth in this??
Looks like this site is the most reliable… Thanks JS
i really hope nasri isnt the direct replacement for hleb…we are so young, we lack experience and if we are going to replace 27 yo experienced and one of the most important playlers with a 20 yo player from french league, i dont see it bright…as a replacement for hleb, buy arshavin(he would cost as much as samir) or someone, but not 20 yo boy…
what’s with Ramsey deal are we gone sign him or not? J.S
So JS, Would Barazite promote into the first team next season? We’d like to see him playing in the first team,Ade doesn’t look like a natural goal-machine to me.
I am glad to hear that Nasri should be coming, but am disappointed that he is a replacement for Alexandre Hleb. While from a long-term perspective, Nasri has the potential to surpass Hleb from what I gather, from a short-term perspective, I don’t see that it will be an improvement as he is still learning his trade and will almost certainly need time to adapt to the Premiership’s style of play. I hope that Rosicky’s surgery goes well and allows him to play more consistently, as a fully fit Rosicky (and Van Persie) could act like a new signing, and in my opinion, could more than sufficiently replace Hleb whilst Nasri settles in.
Moushin, we are a very rich club in terms of turnover(income), but having retained less than £3million in profit – a lot of our money is tied up in the stadium debts and short-term/current liabilities – the board relies on loans to make up a large proportion of our transfer budget. With the recent credit crunch, it has become a lot harder to borrow capital, with reports suggesting our transfer budget is now at just £25million.
However, next year, when properties from the Higbury development are sold off, we stand to make around £100million which will help ease our debt greatly and allow us to flex our financial muscle more freely.
There is Ade, RVP, Bendtner, Walcott and vela ahead of Nacer. It’s to early for him to dominate the league. However, since 7 subs are allowed next season, i think he’ll be on the bench. Anyway he might play pre-season games and see how he does against a better opposition.
I dnt think nasri was going to be Helb replacement because Wenger trying to keep Helb but if helb does go I hope we get a replacement.The only player in helb class is Diego.
GK: Almunia/Fabianksi
DF: Sagna/Eboue/Hoyte — Toure/Song/Senderos — New CB?/Gallas/Djourou — Clichy/Troare/New LB?
MF: Walcott/Barazite/Eboue — Fabregas/Nasri/Denilson/Merida/Randall — Diaby/Gilberto/Chantome/Song/Lansbury — Rosicky/Troare/Vela/Gibbs
FW: Adebayor/Bendtner/Walcott — RVP/Eduardo/Vela
1. Where on earth is our back-up for Clichy if Wenger is apparently keen on moulding Traore into a right-midfielder? We have none, seemingly.
and 2. I see Nasri as being not so much a replacement for Hleb, but perhaps more of a precaution for that stomach-churning scenario of “what happens if Fabregas gets a lengthy injury?”.
I wont believe we have Nasri until i see it officially confirmed but its looking good, hope Botelho gets a start aswell, i havent mannaged to see him yet.
I really like this site, keep up the good work Sanderson. Gooner Chris’ site is quite good too. Must say that I’m not liking Arsenal Muse with their talk of Ade’s farm and Arab/hip hop video whores.
Back to topic, it seems like welcome Nasri and good riddance Hleb. People who harp on about Hleb’s wonderful ball rentention… well frigging wonderful, we have possession, great, what then? What does he do with that possession, put the ball in the back of the net? Walcott for all his wandering in and out of games, and less possession, is more effective.
Piss off Pleb.
How you can call Nasri unexperienced is beyond me unless you think Cesc is inexperienced. Nasri has been playing in th French league since he was 17 that means he has 3 years experience and hes already played in the champs league. Losing Hleb wont b a big loss as Rosicky and Hleb are very similar except for the fact Rosicky actually shoots!! So hleb going and Nasri going is great news for everyone as it means we have four very different options on the wings: Nasri, Rosicky, Theo and Vela.
Can Diego be the winger that Arsenal need in addition to Nasri? although he is a play maker but I’m hearing his name mentioned a lot, so whats the deal?
If we got Nasri we will have Rosciky, Walcot, Nasri, and one empty space to fill and I prefer a pure winger who have a big impact on the team.
I dont like how Helb has gone on but he has the abilty to create goals I just cant see rosicky doing that.I dont no if nasri can because I aint seen him play alot so I think wenger bring another player that can create chances.
I doubt he will do though i’d like to see Ben Arfa arrive aswell but that would be 5 wingers not including Van Persie, Eboue and the youth guys who can play there so just dnt see Wenger buyingt two wingers.
hey, can someone tell me what happened to Dimitrov(SP)?
Wenger doesn’t see Van Persie, Walcott or Vela as wingers, so I’d expect him to just use them short term, or bring in someone now. I’d think maybe a centre midfielder or a winger, possibly both, and definitely a centre back, so that’s three more players max (including Nasri), two for the least.
Well we all know how “quick” the official site will be to post this news. Don’t expect it to be unveiled on the site until maybe Monday or so.
Well he does see Theo as a winger at least for this year and when are Theo and Vela ever going to get a game and get experience of they dont play on the wing? cause i cant see Theo or Vela displacing Ade and RVP except for injuries. Nasri will be great to come in though as he’ll replace Hleb and Nasri can play on the left meaning competition for Rosicky.
Interesting that whenever things reported on this site turn out to be wrong, its “don’t blame me I’m just going off stuff I’ve found on the internet”, but when something turns out right its “I was right”. You can’t have it both ways. Either you’re right when you’re right and wrong when you’re wrong, or wherever you got the story from is right when its right, and wrong when its wrong. You can claim credit for bringing the story to peoples attention but not the content. For example with this Nasri story when it looked like it was wrong, you weren’t wrong, L’equipe was wrong, fair enough. But now that it seems they were right you want all the credit all of a sudden. If being wrong had nothing to do with you, then being right has nothing to do with you either.
We are really gonna have a strong attacking team this year! Fabregas,Vela,Walcott,RVP,Nasri,Adebayor,Rosicky,Barazite,Merida,Diaby,Bendtner,Eboue,(yea yea I know,but he does show glimpses of quality from time to time)Traore if he doesn’t go on loan. Sagna and Clichy are fullbacks but we all know how well they can attack. Hopefully we can pick up a wall of a CB and maybe another left fullback and we should have a killer squad!
Yeah, that’s my point, as at some moment in time he will have to buy or promote a winger, if he doesn’t do it now, then it should be after this coming season. That’s if he keeps to what he said about not seeing them as wingers, so they should only play in those positions for one season i.e., short-term.
Chelsea getting rid of Mourinho was stupid, getting rid of Grant, at least so quickly, is shameful. If they give him a different position, then it’s not so bad.
Thank you, Pete. I was just about to say something similar. I really enjoy this site and the hard work that goes into acquiring information, but please, let’s not fall into the Myles Palmer, “Oh, God, I’m great!” kind of trap.
Keep it humble, Jamie.
You’ll get plenty of praise from info-starved Gooners who are sick of the whole NewsNow mess and all the ridiculous sites where 50 guys all sign on and call each other wankers.
This is a good, sharp site and your following will grow. Just let it happen. Let OTHER people tell you about doing a good job instead of jumping in to remind everyone you were right about something.
Myles fell into that habit and then readers started noticing when his pronouncements occasionally turned out WRONG.
Just keep doing what you do best. We’re all here to talk football and Arsenal, not give awards for who knew what, and when.
End of speech. I like your site, so please stay on track.
I think we’d ALL agree on that one.
About the left back position, while it is worrying that now Traore has moved to the wing we basically have Clichy and a winger who can play left back if needed, and maybe you can count Gallas, Hoyte and Rodgers as just able left backs aswell (gallas is more than just able though to be honest, he just hates playing there it seems), we also have Cedric Evina, who i rate quite alot. Duno if hes even close to being ready to step up though, a young player can look great against other young players and then completely out of depth in first team football, however at times they really step up, i meen Gibbs gave two wonderful performances for the first team and hes hardly the star of the reserves (although he is one of the better players out of many good ones).
Nice to see things are now looking up, our squad appears to have been improved by the promoting of several reserve team players who know the EPL so they don’t have to make that adjustment to a new country, launguage, etc, I oly hope that after the confirmed capture of Nasri Arsene Wenger turns his attention to bringing in a comanding central defender.
Keep up the good work love the site it’s the best one on the net!
JS you provide such good information that you just make me wanna spread my legs and fill me with your information.
lol 1st of all ppl his name is HLEB not HELB…he shud piss of,wriggly bastard who cant shoot to save his life.nasri is xcelent man,but if HLEB leaves then i think maybe we can get david silva in,use nasri and theo on the right,problem sorted.i saw silva play the other day and trust me guys,this guy is the real deal.on dimitrov,i saw a video of him on youtube,looks amazing,altho that is in russia.prem is much tougher.btw ppl i havnt seen wilshese play,is he really that good?
I love it. All these people slating Hleb, when many Gooners were naming him our best player for this season – as well as Flamini. Fickle fans as usual..
Totally agree gooner chris, the arsenal fans piss me off soetimes, with their ludicrous comments, fair do’s slag Flamini for being a money grabber but to say we dont need him or he is a useless asset to us is ludicrous! He was one of our best players this season, people were calling him the new “bull”. As for Hleb he is a cunt to leave to AC Milan who cant even fucking reach the champo league, good luck to him but he will be dearly missed he may not have got the most amount of gfoals but he was quality this seaswon with his mazing runs etc… Arsenal fans pull your socks up and for once lets try regroup but admit to our losses.
As for Nasri I would love to see him in an Arsenal shirt would be quality!!
JAY
can i ask which our players are featuring in that toulouncup?
Gooner Chris,
I have not liked Hleb for nearly 3 whole seasons. He really let me down. When he first came, I said to my dad and anyone else who would listen, that he would be big. He looked so great in pre-season and was scoring goals, as well as setting other people up with clear chances.
Three seasons later, he has been nothing near to as wonderful as I thought he would be. My player of the season is Sagna, simple as. Hleb gives us little goal threat, putting the bal in the back of the net is the only important thing for an attacker, you don’t need 70% possession to do that.
I’ve always been a fan of Hleb, but I can accept him leaving, and I know he won’t be too hard to replace. Have to disagree with Sagna as player of the season; Clichy has been so good I actually think he might be a robot. That’s the only way anyone could have that kind fo stamina.
Thanks for the info stuart!! So I can say that we have to rely on our talents again next season… and we might not get players like Diego or Miguel Veloso who are rated at least 20 million euro’s?!! Well all I can say than is I hope that the year experience has done this team well, because we can’t expect 2 or 3 big name signings…
Not big name signings, but if we don’t make at least 3 Sagna-type signings I’d be very surprised. Hleb and Flamini need replacing, and Wenger has said he wants to buy a centre-back too. I’m sure Wenger understands the need for a bigger squad than we had last season.
“can i ask which our players are featuring in that toulouncup?”
Im pretty sure there arent any Arsenal players in the Toulon tornament. On the up side we’ll have quite alot in the olympics. I wish GB would pull themselves together and get together a football side, i meen i know its complicated but it must be do-able.
We all have our opinions but Sagna has a goal and assists to his name, plus I don’t recall him putting a foot wrong. I might be incorrect, but out of all our back four, I’m sure he’s the only one that didn’t give away a penalty. If he did, it couldn’t have been a stupid one, unlike the other three.
No, Sagna is no.1 this season. Clichy has had three seasons to adapt and get that good, and he’s still not as good as Sagna, in my eyes anyway.
Couldnt agree more with Gunner4life&beyond, Sagna is simply awesome. He has everything however clichy will get better, but must defend better as back four [Cohesion]. Thats the difference between us and Man Utd
Thank you Supergunner,
someone agrees with me, so I know I’m not going mad. This team is going places, it’s a shame some of our player’s can’t see it, but some can. I will enjoy Euro 2008, and then I can’t wait for next season.
Players are meant to come and go anyway, but we still have; Eduardo, Van Persie, Rosicky, Fabregas, Vela, Walcott, Diaby, Denilson, Gallas, Toure, Adebayor, Clichy, Sagna, Almunia, Traore, Djourou, Bendtner, Gilberto, plus hopefully Nasri and whoever else comes in (I’d like to see what Ben Arfa, Veloso, Yaya or Quaresma could do), as well as Lansbury, Wilshere, Barazite, Gibbs and others to possibly look forward to seeing so I’m very optimistic.
Vive le Arsenal.
we’re not saying that hleb and flam r bad players,i adored flamini last season but its so so SO dissapointing when players say they want to stay and then go away bcoz of a few thousand pounds more.and make no mistake,thats why they go.with hleb it seems his agent has his hand up alex’s ass to b honest,it reminds me of anelka nd real.im seeing quaresma being mentiond here,but does he play the way le boss wud want?hes rather selfish at times,but hes a wonderful player,gets alot of goals and assists,great entertainment 4 us fans too…only problem-price tag!is it too much to ask that bill gates is an arsenal fan?lol…
Guys did anyone notice how two footed is Samir Nasri? I got confused from the Youtube clips as I couldn’t determine which was his strongest foot.
I’ve read somewhere that he is a right footed player, if so then that would be amazing truly as he scored a lot of goals with his supposed weaker left foot.
I don’t think you can find a lot players with this ability, the first one to come to my mind was Zidane, so is this a coincidence?
If the rumored price of 11m is true then it will be a great bargain for the club, I hope it is announced as soon as possible just to fend any late interested clubs.
On another note what are the chances of Gibbs playing cover for left back position and Traore gaining valuable loan experience in a premiership club?
http://www.sportnetwork.net/main/s378/st129383.htm
NASRI HAVING MEDICAL!!!! EXCLUSIVE!!!!!
If Hleb is leaving and with Barcelona seemingly interested in our cast off’s, what about a straight swap for Yaya Toure. The type of player we need, and a lot younger. Jay top stuff mate really enjoy reading your material. Also Gooner Chris, Mark Milligan is not a bad player, he can play all across the back four and centre midfield as well, and is Sydney FC and the Olyroos captain (Australian Olympic team), and has a certain dynamism and never say die attitude, with some polishing from AW he could be a very good player, also just to note he is coached at Sydney FC by EX Arsenal Striker John Kosmina.
I still miss Pires… We need Pires-type of winger in Arsenal.Along side with Ljungberg on other flank… It’s a winning formula…
So, I just had a shit, which I reported last week would happen. Aint I great!
Joke, but seriously gotta afree with the fellas who think it’d be a real shame if this turned into a Myles Palmer self flagulation site mkII. Now he is a wanker!
I hope nasri wont take long to settle in the epl.Whatever happened to the experienced players AW was quoted as saying the club needs. These are early days but don’t assume that Arsenal will cahllenge like they did last season.If Arsenal’s challenge fizzles out what then.
the difference is Spike, is that nobody called you a liar when you said you were having a shit.
Early days???
The fookin transfer window isnt even open and you are writing off next season?
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
Who called you a liar Jay?
On various forums Spike.
Don’t worry about it fella. Just keep doing what you’re doing on here. Laters
Thank you sir. Take care :D
YH its definite nasri has signed watching the lyon vs psg game yesterday and in the chatroom speaking with all these french fans and saying nasri has signed.
But wat i wanna talk about is clement chantome, this player looks like the real deal. The guy is about 6 ft 1, quite tall pacy, ver strong in the tackle does not take priosoners (tackle on junho) and is versaitile, great passer. However he was playin in the wide postion of a five man midfield to cover thier full backs but u can see him playin in a more central role/ If wenger can get him for like 5mill we got a great deal.
Another player we should consider is mathieu bodmer from lyon hes not in the first team and his place is usually taken by kim kallmstrom and we could get a top class, experienced tall 6ft 3 player who plays in a DM.
But our main problem is Centre back we need a an experienced tall centre back who over the age of 26 6 ft 2 a defender in europe and not in Africa because of the african nations taking place in january which affected kolo toure performances for us.
Straight swap Hleb for Metzelder?
Isn’t it A LOT of talk about the first team in this blog now? Even though the blog is for Arsenal youngster, I thought it would be only about the reserveteam, U-18, U-16 etc.
yes!!!nasri confirmed eh?guys what do u think of kompany?the last tym i saw him play was in the champs lge 3 yrs ago 4 anderlecht…lol quite a while back bt hes a good,strong CB wit gr8 pace.nd hleb 4 yaya?id take that any day!
mrjustice: The problem is during summer there is little news about the reserves and below. Eventually players will be released, promoted, bought or play internationals but until then there is little to go on. However, this is still a forum for Arsenal fans and Arsenal are linked to at least a player a day. Transfer speculation is what’s gonna keep people reading over the summer. Not only because we want to know who comes in, we could find that anywhere, but for different insight (does it stifle the youngsters, are we not buying in a position so a fella can be promoted etc.).
J: I agree with the general opinion of being humble fella. Your blog is the nuts, and I see people tell you this regularly. You just don’t need to rub our noses in it. It’s like when my flatmates and I watch something funny and all of us laugh and then my mate Ben always explains the joke as if we didn’t get it. It really gets my goat (although it doesn’t stop him being my friend and it doesn’t stop me reading your blog.) We know you are a young’n in blogging and a little constructive criticism from your adoring fans can’t hurt.
Wenger says Nasri’s transfer likely to be completed before the Euro’s – http://goonertalk.wordpress.com/2008/05/25/wenger-nasri-move-likely-to-be-completed-before-euros/
the difference is Spike, is that nobody called you a liar when you said you were having a shit.
J.Sanderson said this on May 25, 2008 at 1:56 am
When you hadn’t had a shit, you got called a liar, but no you’re not a liar! It wasn’t you that predicted the shit, you got that information else where! Now that you’ve had the shit though, you’re the best for predicting the shit!
You see how that doesn’t work?
(hint: if it wasn’t you who predicted the shit when it hadn’t happened, who’s responsible for the prediction now it has? Supplemental hint: not you)
I am sure he will lead them to a glorious victory.
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Hi, I can’t understand how to add your site in my rss reader. Can you Help me, please :)
This is why I read younggunsblog.co.uk. Unbelievable posts.