Nasri speaks out & is it time to get nervous?

Morning Gooners,

I trust you are having a good weekend, despite waking up to stories that all our players are leaving.

The only place to really start is our increasingly Adebayor-like number 8, Samir Nasri. He has had some quotes released in the ever reliable News of the World. In a possible attempt to explain his actions, or more to the point lack of them, to the Arsenal fans he said:

"Money has never been my motivation. I have always taken 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."

Now the one thing fans want to hear from a star in Nasri's situation is "I want to win things at this club" or "I want to stay". Now I'm not saying that he didn't say those thing because as I said, these quotes are in the News of the World so the possibility of quote cutting should not be discounted.

Until recent weeks I honestly thought that Nasri would sign and continue to play his football at Arsenal for the next four or so years and beyond. Now however, I'm finding it difficult to see how he can stay so the game now must surely be get as much money as we can for him. If we got £20m for his services I think it would be a good deal as long as Wenger used it to strengthen our squad now, not in January, not next summer, not players this summer who should be ready to play over the next couple of years, NOW.

The Mail on Sunday have reported that Theo Walcott could be joining Chelsea in the search for trophies but it's rubbish, Theo is one of the few players I am certain will be at the Emirates next year.

Apparently, all the work we have done in securing Ricardo Alvarez is about to be wasted as Inter swoop in at the last minute to secure his signature. Now, if it happens, it won't be the first player we have lost due to the time it takes us to negotiate, sometimes I really wish we would just pay the extra £2m and secure the player before other clubs with more spending power come in and challenge us for the player and ultimately outbid us.
Whether this is true or not is yet  to been seen for sure and we'll only find out the real truth in the coming weeks.

The players start pre season training tomorrow and then start their tour of the far east on 13th July so I expect Wenger to want a lot of his dealings completed by then, both ins and outs. I expect a lot of business is going on behind the scenes and Arsene and Arsenal have always been quite good at keeping transfer deals private so like all other fans I hope to see some real movement over the next couple of weeks before the squad flies out.

I am one of the more positive Gooners in the world but even I am now getting edgy as I watch our rivals strengthen as we become weaker. Potentially losing both Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri, certainly losing Clichy (to a rival!!) probably losing Denilson and Bendtner and so far only seeing Gervinho as a likely new recruit is a scary vision but I will reserve my nerves as the biggest thing to remember is that is is still only July 3rd and we have 59 days left in the window so business is no where near completed.

Till next time,
Goonerfish.