Arsene Wenger has decided to stamp his authority over contract rebels Samir Nasri and Gael Clichy, insisting they either sign or be sold.
This news comes after contract negotiations between the club and both Gunners hit a break wall.
With both players contracts set to expire next summer, fears are beginning to grow that the club could lose both Clichy and Nasri on a free like they did Mathieu Flamini back in 2008. However, Wenger insists the same mistake won’t be repeated. The Frenchman was quoted in the Sunday Mirror saying:
‘We won’t allow that to happen again. We do not want the same as Flamini. We will sort it out quickly at the end of the season. We need to move very quickly. It must be resolved before the new season starts.’
These warnings have come at a time when Arsenal are planning to invest substantially on their squad during the summer.
In regards to Gael Clichy, Wenger already has a suitable replacement waiting in the wings – this being Kieran Gibbs. The England international has started the last three Premier League fixtures, and many Arsenal fans have already called upon Wenger to replace the error-prone Frenchman with the Arsenal youth product.
The 25-year-old left-back is valued at approximately £8-10 million, and there are already many clubs, which include Liverpool and Juventus, who have expressed their interest and be willing to splash the cash, if he were to become available this summer.
But Wenger has not got that kind of luxury regarding Samir Nasri.
The 23-year-old has been in red-hot form this season, and due to his fine performances, was even nominated for the PFA Player of the Year award.
With Cesc Fabregas’ days at Arsenal running out, many fans feel the timely rise to prominence of Nasri has come at the perfect time.
This piece of news is almost certainly going to cause some concern amongst those involved with Arsenal. Valued at around £13 million, the France international will surely command a transfer fee of around £20-25 million given his performances this season.
Personally, I would not have any problem with Clichy leaving, as I see Gibbs as an adequate replacement. However, Nasri is still young and certainly has the best years ahead of him; I definitely wouldn’t want to see him go. Yet again, no player is bigger than the club.
Arsenal are not a club that regularly dishes out massive contracts, in terms of wages. So, if contract negotiations are not finalised before the mid July, then the club should look to sell both Frenchman so that they don’t lose out on a substantial amount of transfer fees.
The most important thing is that the club doesn’t allow themselves to be held to ransom by players, especially those who don’t pride themselves in playing for such a great club like Arsenal.
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Gibbs would be a terrible replacement for clichy who, in my view, was great this season.
Gael Clichy shouldn’t be sold this summer until a good replacement for the left back was found
i wouldnt care if clichy went. i think he has got a little bit of attitude and doesnt seem to interested in his duties. he doesnt seem to track back as much any more and looks to me like he is heading down the Cashley route which is a shame due to him being a quality player. i think gibbs is a suitable replacement although he does lack in experience, but the same thing was said for clichy when cole left. i think when called upon gibbs has given a great performance. as for nasri i would not like to see him leave. he was a key player for us this year and continues to improve.
Neither Clicy or Nasri can hold the Club to ransom. Both must sign or be sold before pre-season training.I like Gibbs though and with more playing time he will be a regular. And don’t forget that the impressive Miquel is also waiting in the wings.
I would be interested to hear the views of others about the possibility of Wenger using Walcott in a more central role next season. He seems so wasted on the wing, yet his finishing when he can get inside is deadly.
Nicky,
Wenger wants Walcott to be a striker in two years time. So we will see him play a more central role next season but only as a striker and not anywhere in the midfield.
Clichy was very poor this season and Gibbs in not an adequate replacement even for a bad player. It would please me to see Clichy sold because i think he has become a liability due to his lack of concentration defensively and total lack of ability when it comes to defending set pieces. We already have a replacement for him in the form of Thomas Vermaelen. The ideal result would be to sell Clichy for 10m, move Vermaelen to LB and bring in Sakho or Samba to the CB position. That way we would be much stronger defensively, especially at set pieces. As for Nasri if he goes we must get either Mata, Hazard or Alex Sanchez. I’d like to see us getting one of them and keeping Nasri but that seems unlikely. Nobody is bigger than the club and Nasri is being played out of position so it would be possible to replace him with a natural left-sided player without taking anything away from the team. Personally i think he’ll leave because he has been played on the left wing too often this year.
WENGER SHOULD LEAVE
@Gunnerviv
Thanks for that. I’m sure Walcott will do well in a more central position. As you say, he is not a m/f.
wenger should let clich go and replace him wt varmalen and get cahill for central defnc.then sell cesc and deploy nasri to cntral mdfield.and buy hazard 4 wing.wt this sqaud,i prmse arsenal fans of league next season.long live arsenal fc.lng l asnal fans.
I think no player should hold the club to ransom Clichy in my opinion has dropped big time and personally there are better left backs out there. Although Gibbs looks good I don’t think he is ready for next season, he is an injury prone player and needs to work on his all round game. I think Wenger should get Baines to replace Clichy no matter what.
I would not like Nasri to leave the club but if he were to leave Arsenal would definately need to buy a player to replace him, players like Hazard, Marin and so forth.
gibbs wouldnt last more than 5 games without picking up some kind of knock that would keep him out of action for weeks. his injury track record already speaks for itself