Samir Nasri, accompanied by Patrick Vieira, leaves the Bridgewater Hospital in Manchester after his medical last night
The £23m signing of Samir Nasri should bring City’s summer spending to a halt.
The Blues are today expected to complete the capture of the France international midfielder after he had a medical in Manchester last night.
Mancini hinted at the weekend that the Blues may yet move for another midfielder but M.E.N. Sport understands that – unless the situation changes quickly – Nasri will be the final buy of this transfer window.
On a dramatic day, Nasri trained with Arsenal in the morning, and reports suggested he would join the Gunners’ flight to Italy for tonight’s Champions League play-off against Udinese.
But, as we reported last night, Nasri had no intention of boarding the flight, as playing would have cup-tied him for City’s European campaign and jeopardised the whole deal.
He pushed through an agreement over agents’ fees and Arsene Wenger admitted defeat as Arsenal announced Nasri was heading north for a medical, and the player arrived here last night.
The signing has a double edge, as it strengthens City but weakens an Arsenal side which is a main rival for a top four place this season.
But Wenger admitted that the prospect of losing for Nasri for nothing next summer, when his contract was due to expire, had forced their hand, and he had not been prepared to lose the fee by taking Nasri to Udine and including him in the team.
"You cannot think only about one game in the season and the decision had a logic but it is, of course, as well, a business interest," he said.
The deal has dragged on all summer, to the annoyance of Mancini and Wenger, but the Arsenal boss pointed the finger at City for the delay, which leaves them eight days to find a replacement.
He said: "It’s not naive, but what you forget maybe is that it doesn’t depend only on us. We wanted to sort all these cases out very early after the summer, but it wasn’t possible. And the pace is not only dictated by us, unfortunately." There are still formalities to complete but Nasri should sign today and go straight into the squad for Sunday’s trip to Spurs.
There were reports yesterday that City were lining up West Ham’s England midfield star Scott Parker and towering Uruguay defender Sebaastian Coates but there is no interest in Parker and Coates is extremely unlikely, even though Mancini likes the look of him.
City have had the 21-year-old closely watched but the consensus was that he was not worth the £12m Liverpool appear to be ready to pay.
The £23m signing of Samir Nasri should bring City’s summer spending to a halt.
The Blues are today expected to complete the capture of the France international midfielder after he had a medical in Manchester last night.
Mancini hinted at the weekend that the Blues may yet move for another midfielder but M.E.N. Sport understands that – unless the situation changes quickly – Nasri will be the final buy of this transfer window.
On a dramatic day, Nasri trained with Arsenal in the morning, and reports suggested he would join the Gunners’ flight to Italy for tonight’s Champions League play-off against Udinese.
But, as we reported last night, Nasri had no intention of boarding the flight, as playing would have cup-tied him for City’s European campaign and jeopardised the whole deal.
He pushed through an agreement over agents’ fees and Arsene Wenger admitted defeat as Arsenal announced Nasri was heading north for a medical, and the player arrived here last night.
The signing has a double edge, as it strengthens City but weakens an Arsenal side which is a main rival for a top four place this season.
But Wenger admitted that the prospect of losing for Nasri for nothing next summer, when his contract was due to expire, had forced their hand, and he had not been prepared to lose the fee by taking Nasri to Udine and including him in the team.
"You cannot think only about one game in the season and the decision had a logic but it is, of course, as well, a business interest," he said.
The deal has dragged on all summer, to the annoyance of Mancini and Wenger, but the Arsenal boss pointed the finger at City for the delay, which leaves them eight days to find a replacement.
He said: "It’s not naive, but what you forget maybe is that it doesn’t depend only on us. We wanted to sort all these cases out very early after the summer, but it wasn’t possible. And the pace is not only dictated by us, unfortunately." There are still formalities to complete but Nasri should sign today and go straight into the squad for Sunday’s trip to Spurs.
There were reports yesterday that City were lining up West Ham’s England midfield star Scott Parker and towering Uruguay defender Sebaastian Coates but there is no interest in Parker and Coates is extremely unlikely, even though Mancini likes the look of him.
City have had the 21-year-old closely watched but the consensus was that he was not worth the £12m Liverpool appear to be ready to pay.
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