StarBoard:

Who are we buying next please?
Coogar,come and answer o.
It looks like United's summer spending is over. . .all our targets are just being linked with us on paper but are marching to other clubs in reality. . .Nasri,Modric,Sneijder (likely staying). . .

Samir Nasri is expected to tell Arsène Wenger today that he wants to leave Arsenal, after Manchester United submitted a formal bid of £20 million.
The France midfield player, who has entered the final year of his contract, will discuss his future with the Arsenal manager this morning when he returns to pre-season training.



Wenger is desperate to keep Nasri at the Emirates Stadium and will try to persuade him to stay, but it is thought that the player — who spoke last week of his “priority to make a big career and to win titles” — has decided that he wants a new challenge. United face competition from Manchester City, Chelsea, Real Madrid and the Milan clubs, AC and Inter, for his signature.

Arsenal have offered Nasri, 24, a new five-year contract worth £90,000 a week. They have not won a trophy for the past six seasons, though, and are expected to lose Cesc Fàbregas, their captain, to Barcelona, leaving Nasri with serious concerns about whether his interests will be best served by remaining in North London.

The Times can confirm that United lodged a bid of up to £20 million for Nasri around a fortnight ago and hope to make him their fourth signing of the summer after Phil Jones, Ashley Young and David De Gea, who have arrived for a combined outlay in excess of £50 million.
However, reaching an agreement with Arsenal will not be straightforward given that Wenger has stated publicly that he will not sell to the Barclays Premier League champions, but the prospect of losing Nasri for nothing when his contract expires next summer may be even more unpalatable.

If Wenger admits defeat in his efforts to keep Nasri, he is likely to demand between £25 million and £30 million from a Premier League rival — a huge sum given the player’s contractual status — but the manager’s strong preference would be to sell to a foreign club.
Real, Inter and Milan are thought to be monitoring developments with interest. City, who signed Gaël Clichy, the France left back, from Arsenal this week, could lodge a bid.

Sir Alex Ferguson believes he has a good chance of enticing Nasri to Old Trafford, although the United manager is said to be relaxed about the situation and in no rush to try to force through a deal before the club embark on a three-week pre-season tour to the United States on Monday.
David Gill, the United chief executive, is away on holiday and is not due to join the squad in the US until the end of next week.
René Meulensteen, the United first-team coach, was quoted yesterday as saying that Wesley Sneijder, the Inter and Holland playmaker, would “fit perfectly” at the club, but the champions are focusing their efforts on Nasri.

Even if they manage to pull off what would be a huge transfer coup by signing Nasri, though, The Times understands that the club are determined to keep Nani, the Portugal winger whom they regard as central to their long-term plans.
Nani had been strongly linked with a move to Italy even before news of United’s interest in Nasri surfaced, but Ferguson is opposed to selling the player, who lost his place in the starting line-up towards the end of last season after the return from injury in March of Antonio Valencia.

The prospective arrival of Nasri on the back of the £17 million capture of Young from Aston Villa would leave Ferguson with an embarrassment of riches on the flanks, but it is thought the manager may have earmarked Nasri for a more central role.
Wes Brown, the defender, is set to end a 15-year association with United by moving to Sunderland. Steve Bruce, the Sunderland manager, has agreed a combined fee of £12 million with his former club for Brown and his team-mates John O’Shea, the defender, and Darron Gibson, the midfield player.

Mr_TA:

Im warming to the idea of Nasri as the rumours arent going away. Doesnt mean we'll get him but i sense there is atleast a chance otherwise we wouldnt even bid for him. Although, I maintain we need a more Modric type of midfielder not a necessarily a Nasri type of attacker but obviously I'll take either. Nasri is still only 24 so when Real Madrid come calling we can sell on for £60M+

StarBoard:

Nasri's defensive abilities of lack of them is why I'm not so convinced he is what we need.Besides,he's primarily a left sided midfielder(in Coogar's terms,a specialized player just like all Arsenal players).Over last season,Nani provided more assists than he,so in that regard he might not give us anything new.Admitedly he's likely to get the other goal or two but we need someone who can boss the middle,probably like a Modric. . .though Moddy seems bent on moving to Chelsea. . .

coogar:

i dunno why fergie is suddenly after nasri. samir is lazy defensively and he's a specialist. we don't need specialists in that united midfield, we need rugged defenders like scholes/hargreaves/fletcher mode. players who are offensively decent and defensively monstrous. yes, nasri is ridiculously creative but when we don't have the ball, he will be a massive liability.

how did we let cheihk tiote slip through our fingers?

StarBoard:

The guy is too u.gly. . .
Seriously,Tiote can't be too hard to prise from Newcastle if we wanted to get him.Right now their team is in turmoil,and we could cash in on that.Nolan left for West Ham (!-that's how bad he wanted to leave,for only 4m),Barton is shopping himself around. . .[b]Fergie can't be having such a hard time identifying targets. . .
The latest I hear is that [/b]he's linked with Moussa Sissoko (whom I've seen just once) of Toulouse. . .

coogar:

except that tiote has signed a 300-yr contract with newcastle some weeks ago. i was devastated when i heard the news. i dunno why no top four team is looking at this dude. he is the closest makelele clone in europe.

Mr_TA:

I'm sorry but the bookings thing with tiote is an issue.a lot of them were picked up for very very brainless acts which can become a liability at the highest level.we were willing ton put up with it with Scholes,but he's gone now so no need to keep chalking up the bookings and playing with a liability, part of Makelele's talent was avoiding silly bookings. Plus he's good player but really not that good.

chamotex:

That is what I always say about squad players.
O'Shea is a reliable squad player that is versatile and can play in a number of roles.
Will miss dissing him tho.

But its not a loss that would affect us significantly.

Even though we've lost 3 defenders (Gary, Wes & John) . . . we still have 8 defenders in the squad, but only 3 experienced players

montelik:

Hence why it was a little risky to let him go. We also have a new inexperienced gk to bed in to d starting eleven, not to mention d twins have shown that over d course of a full season they have fitness & injury concerns. We could have done with keeping someone of his experience around to help out. But apparently it seems he wanted d move, so it was d right thing to let go so could enjoy first team football rather than stay as back-up at OT.

chamotex:

That is what I always say about squad players.
O'Shea is a reliable squad player that is versatile and can play in a number of roles.
Will miss dissing him tho.

But its not a loss that would affect us significantly.

Even though we've lost 3 defenders (Gary, Wes & John) . . . we still have 8 defenders in the squad, but only 3 experienced players

dayokanu:

Thats how we know Winners and losers.

Compare the post above to this from the losers enclave

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-682102.1152.html#msg8678262

coogar:

but what do you expect?

hungry men have no sense of humour, do they?

Emperoh:

Trophyless men u mean to say?