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Nasri the perfect fit at Old Trafford
Nasri the perfect fit at Old Trafford
Marc Fox
Samir Nasri may not necessarily have been Sir Alex Ferguson’s first choice to pep up the creativity and guile in the centre of Manchester United’s midfield at the start of the summer.
But the cards appear to be falling in favour of the Frenchman switching from the Emirates to Old Trafford before the opening of the new Premier League season next month following confirmation that Ferguson tabled a near-£20m bid for the France international midfielder three weeks ago.
Although that bid didn’t even justify an official rebuttal from Arsenal, reports suggest that Arsene Wenger is already getting that familiar sinking feeling as another one of his elite group engineers a move away from North London following six years without silverware under Wenger’s watch.
The fact that Nasri’s official reason for preferring a transfer to the English champions is their higher likelihood of delivering trophies hasn’t been lost on the Arsenal supporters who watched the Frenchman’s performances tail off in the second half of the last EPL season.
But, equally, they know that Nasri was still the club’s outstanding performer last term and, if he signs the new contract offer from Arsenal, he would provide a huge boost to the club’s diminishing title chances in the forthcoming campaign.
While denting Arsenal’s possibilities of rising up and snatching the EPL title away from Old Trafford next term would provide a welcome side benefit from Nasri’s switch north, Ferguson’s main aim is to answer the fans’ demands for greater ball possession and inventiveness in a midfield upstaged once again in the Champions League final defeat to mighty Barca.
The Scot knows he can no longer expect his current crop of central midfielders to crack open the tightest opposition defences – especially following the retirement of Paul Scholes.
A creative midfielder such as Nasri or Tottenham’s Luka Modric seems to be part of the solution; however, it seems the Frenchman has jumped to the head of queue for two main reasons.
First, since his current deal at Arsenal has only 12 months to run, he represents greater value, especially as he only turned 24 last month.
Nasri’s fee might still rise to £25m before he can be prised from Wenger’s grasp, although given that Jordan Henderson cost Liverpool £20m and Chelsea have had a £22m bid rejected by Spurs for Modric, that would still seem like smart business for the English champions for the player who moved from Marseille in 2008 for £15.8m.
Second, Nasri’s pre-Christmas displays last season prove that he is already a proven Premier League performer.
He didn’t set the league alight in his first year in North London, but 15 goals in 51 appearances last season after missing the cut for France’s World Cup squad saw his EPL value balloon and that experience in the hustle and bustle of the world’s best league might prove the decisive factor for Ferguson.
It’s long been common knowledge that United’s manager admires Inter’s Wesley Sneijder; indeed, Ferguson met with the Dutchman’s agent in London in April to assess the possibility of coaxing Sneijder from Milan.
However, the past two decades are littered with examples of foreign internationals struggling to adapt to the EPL in their maiden years – many at Manchester United, as fans will testify.
And given Nasri’s greater EPL exposure, his lower price (it will take a £35m deal to prise Sneijder out of Inter's clutches) and lower age (Sneijder turned 27 a month ago), he might be the perfect fit.
© Marc Fox & Soccerphile.com
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