I Don’t Care If Nasri Leaves Arsenal

I don’t care if Samir Nasri leaves Arsenal. Yes, I would definitely have him stay, but if the bloke does choose to leave, it would make no difference to me. Now I completely understand that players, just like us are human beings, and they need to support themselves and their family. But one very crucial factor here is that as footballers they touch the hearts of millions around the world. And therfore they have to be careful about their actions.

I have spoken to a few people about Nasri’s contract details and in short this is what I understood. The French-man was offered  90,000 pounds a week from Arsenal, and this was the clubs first offer. Mind you, 90,000 pounds a week is the same amount RVP gets at Arsenal. Nasri was offered this at first, he sat on it, waited and then refused it. After doing that he came out with this statement :

“Money has never been my motivation. I have always taken my decisions from a football point of view,”

“I don’t want to sign for a club where I wouldn’t be playing the football that I like, where I wouldn’t feel happy, just for the sake of money. We already earn huge wages. The priority is to make a big career and to win titles. This is more important than everything else. I know the value and the meaning of money.

“With no titles under your belt, you can’t be in the list for the Ballon D’Or. I came to England to get trophies because I haven’t won anything in my career, apart from an Under-17 European Championship in 2004.

“We all need to get out of our comfort zone to grow up and test ourselves.”

The player gave  a lot to the club last season. He, for the first half of the season was not only Arsenal’s star man but also a strong contender for player of the season. Then suddenly after the Carling Cup final, everything began to breakdown for him. Nasri’s performance as a player started becoming average, and he was no longer the Sam of the earlier part of the 2010-2011 season.

Yes, contract talks between the player and the club did stall for a while. But, then they resumed with the club offering the same wages as Cesc Fabregas – 110,000 pounds a week. Rumour has it that  Nasri was looking for 120,000 pounds a week.

After a week or so of negotiation and discussions, in short the club told him ‘this is the last offer, take it or leave it.’ And Nasri said “No.”

The club has shown intent in the transfer market and signed Gervinho, Jenkinson and Chamberlain. And if rumours are suspected to be true, we may get that defender we always wanted after all.

The main  problem with this Nasri situation is that the man BELIEVES that with Arsenal he will win NOTHING. He believes that he has given whatever he could in an Arsenal shirt and that  it is time to move on. It’s quite easy  to understand that the player wants this, once you read his statement.

I don’t want to sign for a club where I wouldn’t be playing the football that I like, where I wouldn’t feel happy, just for the sake of money. We already earn huge wages. The priority is to make a big career and to win titles.

So, if the priority was to make a huge career and win titles, why can it not be Arsenal? Let’s look at the difference. Both Man City and Arsenal can offer you champions league football (I think we can beat Udinese), both are in contention for equal number of trophies, and both are title contenders.

Infact, there are only 2 differences between both sides. That being, one plays boring football and another fantastic football. And the other, and the MOST important difference being that one offers you wages as if its offering a cigarette and one offers you wages as if its offering diamonds.  Man City are willing to pay Nasri 185,000 pounds a week. That is 10,000 pounds  more than Fabregas, Wilshere, and Koscielny combined.

Now it is true that I will feel let-down by Samir if he leaves. Because I actually thought he would stick by this team, a team which needs him a lot. But alas, the world works in enigmatic ways, and if it’s not to be, it just isn’t.

I loved Nasri, the way the player conducted himself throughout the first half of the season, and the way he led this Arsenal team. But now he is just a football player, who plays for Arsenal FC. Not a Gunner, JUST a footballer.

Submitted by Armoury Square