Arsenal have today signed French midfielder Samir Nasri from Olympique Marseille for a fee rumoured to be around £13.5 million.
The 20-year-old Marseille-born starlet has been linked with the Gunners since early March with Arséne Wenger even stating on French radio that he wanted to sign the player dubbed ‘the new Zidane’.
Nasri, talking to Arsenal.com said.
“I’m very happy to become an Arsenal player, it means such a lot to me. This is a very important step in my life as a football player because Arsenal is a massive club. I really hope everything will go well for me here. I will do my best for Arsenal and its fans and I am honoured to be part of such a great football club.”
Nasri was expected to sign for Arsenal before the European Championships began. But negotiations reportedly slowed down because of the Frenchman’s high wage demands.
The saga continued for the Marseille-born star when his official website announced that he had signed for Arsenal. Gunners fans were stunned to find out that the news was ‘premature’ as described by Nasri’s agent Jean Pierre-Bernes.
Arsenal’s third acquisition of the season was almost complete when Bernes announced that a deal would be completed when Nasri arrives back from his holiday in Cuba.
Gunners boss Arséne Wenger appeared to be delighted at the eventual capture of his man.
“We are delighted to be signing Samir Nasri. He is young, quick and technically an outstanding player. He has shown great potential with his performances for Marseille and the French national team over the past two seasons and he will add great quality to our squad.”
Versatile Nasri, who can play on either wing, won the French first division’s young player of the year crown last season and was voted Marseille’s player of the year by fans.
Last campaign he scored six goals in 30 games for the French outfit with the final strike in his tally coming in the 4-3 win over Strasbourg that helped secure Marseille’s berth in next season’s Champions League.
Nasri had appeared at various youth international levels for France before winning the first of seven senior caps in 2007, though he only came on as a substitute as ‘Les Bleus’ exited Euro 2008.
The attacking midfielder is due to join up with his new Arsenal team mates for pre-season training on 21st July and will take former Gunner and close pal Lassana Diarra’s number 8 shirt.
Everyone at Gooner Talk would like to wish Samir a thoroughly successful career at the club and hope to see him star in the Premier League this season.
Tags: arsenal, bernés, france, marseille, nasri, Wenger, Zidane
July 11, 2008 at 2:52 pm
fist ha made it
July 11, 2008 at 2:52 pm
i meant first
July 11, 2008 at 2:54 pm
If anyone does say ‘first’ or whatever again I will delete your comments. Its Completely pointless. Thanks a lot.
Opinions on the article & Nasri very much welcome guys.
July 11, 2008 at 3:09 pm
He will wear the no. 8 shirt
July 11, 2008 at 3:10 pm
I think nasri is a great signing and is a bargain at 11 million, just look at the price of barry 18m WTF!!!! Now arsene must sell adebayor for 30m becasue it is obvious he does not want to stay, why would he come out in a press conference and say he is defintely staying, then 10 minutes later say he is interested in the big clubs after him, i feel it is best we sell him otherwise we will get adebayor leaving rumours every summer!!! I feel we will receive cash for adebayor, gourcuff will not come as he is on loan to bordeaux. His replacement should be huntelaar.
News on arshavin is that we were the club to have had a 19m bid rejected. Barca have agreed to pull out of the chase for arshavin if arsenal dropped there demands for the hleb transfer, which has happened so it looks like he could be an arsenal player very soon FINGERS CROSSED!!!
July 11, 2008 at 3:10 pm
I am very glad we can now finally have silence from all the doomsayers, and I’m sure Nasri will be fantastic for us. I suppose this now means the door is open for Hleb to leave. I feel he should leave if he is uncomfortable in England as it means he will never be at his best and he has conducted himself (as a player) in a very acceptable fashion considering today’s current transfer climate. I wish him all the best.
July 11, 2008 at 3:12 pm
I think it went differnetly to how you reported it.
1. Marseille wanted to buy Ben Arfa first before letting Nasri leave.
2. The wages remark was taken out of context as Arsene was saying because of the exchange rate the wages in UK were on a good footing anymore against the Euro. The quote was from a long interview at the same time as he talking about Nasri.
3. Dommench didn’t want to release players from his quad build up.
4. The next hold up was the French tax year and Marseille waiting until after Jul 1st so that the income would be in this year’s accounts not last year’s.
5. The final hold up wa Nasri’s holiday.
July 11, 2008 at 3:14 pm
If don’t like the blog o don’t like the author then don’t read it, but there is no need to swear or critisise.
chris is doing a great job and spending a lot of time on it I assume, so either read it and if u don’t like it f**k off.
July 11, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Good. Now fuck off Alex, you’re an overrated twat anyway.
July 11, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Cheers Dutchmaster.
By the way guys, if you haven’t seen the Nasri interview yet, please join the Gooner Talk facebook and I’ll send the video to you.
July 11, 2008 at 3:16 pm
totally agree good job chris just ignore these nutters
July 11, 2008 at 3:17 pm
Yeah the “first” sh*t is getting really old now…Great to finally see him in an Arsenal jersey, Cant wait to see him play. More signing’s please Wenger!
If Ade and Helb go I want to see 3 more players brought in! Ade and Helb replacements and a new centre back or a holding midfielder maybe both
!! Just sell Helb to Barca for £5m and Yaya! I’s be happy with that!
July 11, 2008 at 3:19 pm
So pleased Nasri’s signing.
July 11, 2008 at 3:22 pm
seriously guys lets quit the nonsense
i think the signings will be :
Huntelaar
Arshavin
Milligan (close to premier league move)
That will be the lot i think no cb will come in and wenger will promote diaby to the first 11
July 11, 2008 at 3:23 pm
YESSS!!!!!!
AT LASTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
July 11, 2008 at 3:38 pm
not excited one little bit.
it would have been an anti-climax if we wrapped this up a fortnight ago, let alone now.
only good thing is we won’t be linked with him ever again!
what are arsenal bloggers going to write about now? has he set a world record for the amount of blog pages he has been the subject of.
im guessing thats the end of our spending.
July 11, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Nasri is a good signing for Arsenal for the price at 11 mil. There aren’t many deals that can be done at this price for the quality that we’re buying.
The player has finally arrived and confirmed as we all have discussed about him, watch him in Euro (although not much action), catch him in Youtube clips and also moan about how long this signing is going to take.
It’s becoming very hard for Wenger to find players at the right price these days. Other clubs has followed Arsenal’s footstep in sending/acquiring scouts around the world to find new talents at a good price. Some cheaper clubs go as far as to tap into Arsenal’s targets i.e Chelsea and Spurs. And with the extravagant offer that they hand out to the clubs, those players are no longer affordable.
I hope with the sale of Hleb and Adebayor, it’ll provide Arsene with some cash to go after some ‘ready – made’ players.
July 11, 2008 at 3:42 pm
I think Miligan, Birschoff (since Gilberto will be leaving) and Santa Cruz will come.
Then perhaps an experienced central defender. What the heck happened to Dunne? I thought he was available for a very low price?
July 11, 2008 at 3:48 pm
huntelaar or falcao?? that is now the question!
July 11, 2008 at 3:52 pm
btw – how do you get facebook goonertalk, chris?? im intrigued!
July 11, 2008 at 3:54 pm
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=17643033947&ref=mf
Visit that link mate, it should tell you to sign up, once you’ve done that Join our facebook… simple!
July 11, 2008 at 3:55 pm
SebCesc, with Huntelaar’s price, i think Falcao is more likely among the two of them. However, I am anticipating that the replacement striker will be Roque Santa Cruz. Whether or not Arsene will buy two strikers remains unknown.
July 11, 2008 at 3:58 pm
he is looking to loan another player to salamanca for a season, poss falcao if we could get him for 8-10m??? then roque will be about 13-15m so we would have some change to buy hleb an ice-cream before he goes to spain if we sell ade for 28-30m
July 11, 2008 at 4:00 pm
cheers chris, im the daft looking guy when you come to accept my request!
July 11, 2008 at 4:02 pm
hahahaha, no problems mate.
July 11, 2008 at 4:06 pm
I thought Young Guns reported that the other two players are thought to be Pedro and Barazite? I am still puzzled why are we loaning out Barazite…
Yeah, i think if we do buy Falcao, he is likely to be loaned out since we’ve just got Vela’s work permit. It’ll be another future investment.
July 11, 2008 at 4:07 pm
He will get more experience playing at a Spanish side. Personally, I feel he is almost ready for the first team, but Wenger knows…
July 11, 2008 at 4:10 pm
So, who are the potential players from the reserves who could step up unto the bench this coming season?
July 11, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Mark Randall
Fran Merida
Havard Nordtveit
Gavin Hoyte
Henri Lansbury
July 11, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Sorry, Cannot Post Links To Arsenal TV Video Or Audio Coverage On The Blog
July 11, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Nice, good to see someone come in instead of out..
Reading some of you guys posts, are you guys actually happy for us just to replace players that are leaving?
Would you not want us to strenghen last seasons squad as we failed to win the legaue because we were short of numbers??
July 11, 2008 at 4:21 pm
if we sign mark milligan and bitchoff i think i will shoot myself in the testicles.
July 11, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Well get ur pants down & ur trigger finger ready manuel coz i think its very likely that we will sign them. lol
July 11, 2008 at 4:24 pm
manuel, I’ll be waiting to see that happen. Those two players are FOC and will come in to bolster the squad. They will merely be squad players.
July 11, 2008 at 4:31 pm
ricky and duck, i fucking hope not. i value my testicles, and i also think those two players are fucking shite and i’m embarrassed that arsenal have been linked so heavily to them.
July 11, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Milligan won’t come, he had a trial at the club but was reportedly deemed ‘not good enough’.
Bischoff is a strange one, many Bremen fans feel he made the Arsenal rumours up – we’ll see soon.
July 11, 2008 at 4:36 pm
wouldn’t be surprised if bitchoff did make them up. normally its agents that create links to arsenal for their players out of thin air. it is unusual for a player to do it so blatently.
it would be the most odd of signings if it did happen.
as for milligan he can fuck right off. he is not the sort of name or player we need to win trophies. same goes for bitchoff. i’d rather we gave our plethora of youth talent a chance ahead of any ’squad player’ signings.
exceptional signings, or nothing i say!
July 11, 2008 at 4:40 pm
alright, alright.. i hope you guys are right. and for the sake of your balls as well
its just that normally Arsene takes in the rejects and make the good. Some become great.
July 11, 2008 at 4:43 pm
If Wenger can seal a deal to replace Adebayor with Gourcuff + 24m as is being suggested, this would be a masterstroke from the genius. The money will be used to get Santa Cruz and a defensive midfielder in the mould of flamsters. In the meantime, Diaby should get his change to make that role his.
July 11, 2008 at 4:43 pm
At last a rumour has come to fruition, but please dont stop there Mr Wenger, get rid of that money grabbing couldnt hit a elephants arse with a tennis raquet piece of crap and the Mikey(big brother) lookalike and purchase Huntelaar and a proper keeper and we will be ready for anyone including Man ure. This is OUR season!
July 11, 2008 at 4:45 pm
Well said manuel..
I doubt we have enough money in the bank to make more than 1 exceptional signing..
We have kind of put ourselfs in this position coz if we never left highbury we would have been able 2 sign any1.. Now were at the emirates we have to hold tight & wait..
Its like buying a ferrari & not being able to drive it because u cant afford peterol.
July 11, 2008 at 5:31 pm
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Yp0cz8iFjKY
Very good vid of him^^
July 11, 2008 at 5:58 pm
i agree with you ricky.
July 11, 2008 at 9:03 pm
how much did he cost
July 11, 2008 at 9:54 pm
Let Wenger work his magic. It is still early July – Plenty of time for more comings and goings. The press has made us sound like a joke – wonder who they will link us with now and who will be on there way out. More signings to come – that is a certainty. Be patient.
July 11, 2008 at 10:25 pm
im sure he will be great for the club but i doubt if he can do the things that hleb did for us. hleb was our edge over other clubs especially in europe. i definately think that if the hype is anything to go by nasri is on fire and wenger will only make him better.
July 11, 2008 at 10:47 pm
toure’Yaya is gonna be part of the hleb deal,arsene told me when i saw him on a number 4 bus the other morning
July 22, 2008 at 9:22 pm
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