He's off! Arsenal agree £24m Nasri fee with City, United stand by to hijack deal
By MATT LAWTON
Last updated at 7:09 AM on 24th August 2011
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Samir Nasri was in the North West last night having a medical after Arsenal finally accepted a £24million bid from Manchester City.
But Sportsmail understands Manchester United were closely monitoring the situation in the hope they might yet be able to hijack the deal, which is also expected to see around £2m going to the France midfielder's agent.
City now look like Nasri's next club and United would struggle to match the £185,000-a-week wages being offered to the player for the next five years.
Arsenal exit: Nasri's time with the Gunners looks to have come to an end
But Sir Alex Ferguson is a huge admirer and might just be able to lure Nasri to Old Trafford with the promise of a central role he had in mind for Inter Milan's Wesley Sneijder.
Yesterday Arsenal seemed to consider City the more likely destination, confirming a deal had been struck shortly before boarding their plane for Italy.
A statement read: 'Arsenal can confirm that they have agreed terms for Samir Nasri to move to Manchester City. The 24-year-old midfielder has been omitted from Arsenal's squad which flies to Italy to face Udinese.'
Gunned down: Nasri has been one of Arsenal best performers in recent seasons
GOODBYE, TWEET FRIEND
Midfielder Emmanuel Frimpong
hinted at tension within the Arsenal
ranks yesterday in a Twitter exchange
with team-mate Jack Wilshere...
Wilshere tweeted: ‘Good luck to my
friend @Nanas08 (mr Nasri) learnt a lot
from him. World class player! Will be missed!’
Frimpong replied: ‘Pffffff come on Jack.’
Nasri had trained with Arsene Wenger's squad yesterday and the Arsenal manager wanted the player with him for tonight's crucial Champions League playoff.
Wenger is already working with a severely depleted squad - only 18 players have travelled. He is also concerned by the temperature here in Udine, which rose to 38 degrees yesterday.
Sportsmail understands Wenger was not entirely happy with the decision to sell when the deal coincided with news of Jack Wilshere's latest injury setback, adding to the sense that the relationship between manager and board is becoming strained.
There are those close to the situation who fear defeat tonight and then at Manchester United on Sunday could leave the Frenchman considering his future.
What next? Wenger will now have to plan for life without two of his main stars
Publicly, Wenger showed no sign of such a conflict and said Nasri had been sold for 'psychological and financial reasons'.
'He trained but I knew before training,' he added. 'He didn't know. The decision was made just before.
'Nasri is a situation where the player didn't want to extend his contract with the proposals he had somewhere else.
'What kind of commitment can you have when the player is not there long-term? That is the question you have to answer.'
He added: 'Football rules are made like that, that the player can be worth a lot of money today and nothing in six months,
'So it doesn't look completely logical but, at the end of the day, of course, we are forced into a decision like that for psychological and financial reasons.'
Arsenal welcome back Johan Djourou and Tomas Rosicky, while Laurent Koscielny could be fit for the weekend.
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