Grabbing Hands

And so it begins... Samir Nasri has considerably upped the ante in his contract negotiations with Arsenal by responding to Patrice Evra's entreaties with what could be said to be a thinly veiled "come and get me". My hope is very much that this is just a ploy to get Arsenal to take his contract demands seriously. Hear me out... I don't particularly like the way Nasri has gone about his business this summer, well, in fact the thought of him even bringing Manchester United into what should be a conversation between him and Arsenal makes me want to scream. The fact remains, though, that increasing his wages is likely to work out cheaper than signing, and paying, a replacement.

And that's before we get into the question of who could replace Nasri satisfactorily now. It is true, perhaps, that you- dear reader- might have made a better contribution to our run in than Mr Nasri. But it is equally true that, in the first half of the season, he was the best player in the country by a mile. Do we really want to lose Nasri in the same summer we are, in my opinion (and I'll be delighted if I'm wrong), likely to lose captain Fabregas? Bearing in mind the importance of these two players, it won't take too long for someone to join the words "Arsenal", "ship" and "sinking" in a headline should they both depart. For my money, the smart thing to do would be to go to Barcelona, tell them how much we are prepared to sell Cesc for- everybody has a price, as the Million Dollar Man once said, and then use some of that money to bump Nasri's wages.

It's a shame it's come to this, really. I think Samir Nasri is a player who was just starting to become the player everyone expected him to be 3 years ago. But I'm not surprised by the contract stand off, let's be clear that his refusal to shake the hand of William Gallas before the NLD earlier this season said more about Nasri than it did Gallas. And, no, I'm not saying Gallas is without fault in whatever their quarrel is about- not that I know for sure. The point is, it would have been much better for Nasri to shake hands and then go out and destroy his former team mate on the pitch- that's what a professional would have done, or, at least tried to do. Instead, we got an arrogant gesture that counted for nothing when Gallas led his players off the pitch in victory two hours later.

Likewise, when all was peaches and cream and strolls through the winter snow earlier this season, Nasri had shaken hands on a new deal . Everything was sweet. Three months later, the season had crashed around our ears and Nasri had contributed... what, exactly? And now, he's swanning about telling the world that he's interested in finding out if Manchester United's interest is "concrete"? It's almost as if the end of season collapse was something Nasri played next to no part in, isn't it? There's a first, a footballer not taking responsibility... It says much about the (lack of) character of the modern day footballer that, at the first sign of trouble, they seem to want to jump ship. Anyone remember Mathieu Flamini? Yeah, we've had a few of these and we wonder why we bottle it whenever the tough gets going. Manchester United might be the champions, they might be the most famous club on the planet, but- as an Arsenal supporter- it is unforgiveable to hear Nasri talk as he has. If he is merely waiting to see what happens with Cesc, then he only has to put out some kind of half truth in that direction.

But it says much about where Arsenal find themselves in the summer of 2011, in this landscape where every footballer has, in the words of Depeche Mode's 1983 hit Everything Counts, "grabbing hands/ grab all they can". It makes me sick, it really does, the players taking from supporters, take, take, take- they drive away from the underground car park at the Grove in their massive, ridiculous, SUVs- untouchable and unaccountable to the very people that pay their wages- the people that struggle, struggle, struggle season after season to find the money to pay for a season ticket- or even just a match ticket. It shouldn't be like this, you know, we have quite clearly gone wrong somewhere. But there is no turning back now from the "greed is good" ethos of the Premier League.

Perhaps no turning back for Nasri; a man who could have been a hero, but may well find like Adebayor before him, there are some lines that you just do not cross. I mentioned Fabregas earlier, I mentioned him and giving Nasri some of his money what now seems to me a lifetime ago. The thing that I believe, passionately, about our captain is that he does indeed want to win things with Arsenal, but knows now that it is beyond his control. I believe that Cesc, as many others do, finds this club unrecognisable to the one that he joined in 2003. Some of his statements this year, as in years before, have been unheeded cries for help. It is for that reason that, if Cesc is to depart north London this summer after eight years service, he will do so with my very best wishes for the future. An article on this very website says to you that he is no kind of leader- that may well be true. But look where our much loved Tony Adams led us to in 1995- that's right, 12th position. That was through no fault of his, by the way, that was because a manager was leading his team down a pretty stagnant path.

Hmmmm, does that sound familiar to anyone?

User Comments

User Comments

• Got something to say?
• Read comments

Vs chelsea