At last, the Samir Nasri saga is almost over.

Almost as frustrating the Cesc Fabregas transfer to Barcelona, Nasri’s refusal to sign a new contract has alienated himself from the Arsenal fans, and finally, it looks like his move to Manchester City will be completed soon.

His strange behaviour on Twitter, which started on Monday where he stated:

“I heard what the fans were singing about me on saturday and it is really disrespectful because i’m still a arsenal player.” 

He then congratulated Cesc on his move to Barca, which was fair enough:

“Congratulation to my mate @cesc4official i will miss you world class player and top men.” 

But then yesterday things got a little hairy, and it was speculated that Nasri had declared his disgust at the Arsenal fans and his move to Manchester City on his Facebook page. Again using Twitter, Nasri tweeted:

“Just to make things clear i dont have a facebook so i never said i was leaving with bitterness the guy who said that use a fake account.”

In what has been one of the more strange transfer stories of the summer, Nasri should probably use Twitter and social media as much as Joey Barton.

Now it looks like he’s finally going, I’m not sure how to end this post. Obviously, I wished Cesc all the best for what he had done for the club, and even gave a touching tribute to The Unachievable’s, but how do I feel about Samir Nasri?

Unlike most Arsenal supporters I suspect, I never really read much into his refusal to sign a new deal. Over the years I’ve learnt to pretty much ignore all transfer speculation involving Arsenal because about 90% of it is completely made up. I find it quite hilarious how many players we’re linked with over the summer and January transfer windows and how many Arsenal fans actually believe the hype. We should all know how Arsene does (and doesn’t) spend his money by now.

Anyway, back to Samir. Coming from Marseille and being a right-footed winger who mainly played on the left, obvious comparisons were made to Bobby. His form over his first two seasons wasn’t anything special (a la Bobby) and it was last season when he really came into his own. In Cesc’s absence, he relished the central role and his performances were far more consistent. He scored some really beautiful goals, including that wonder goal against FC Porto in the Champions League.

And with Cesc’s homecoming more and more likely, Nasri would have been the perfect candidate to replace him. So in a sense it’s a really shame it has come to this.

His antics off the pitch should not take away from the fact that Arsenal are losing a talented and important player. That is why it is imperative that Arsene spends money on quality and brings in experience to the club. We have lost Fabregas and soon Nasri, and at least some of that needs to be invested back into the team.

I wouldn’t begrudge Arsene if he kept most of it but if he doesn’t bring in at least one creative player who will help our season then that would be unforgivable.

Don’t ruin this early season optimism I have Arsene!

Finally, Arsenal have officially announced that they have agreed terms with Barcelona for our captain, Cesc Fabregas.

We all knew it was coming, despite Arsene’s best attempts to defuse the speculation and deny Cesc was leaving at all.

At least Pep Guardiola admits that while Cesc grew up in Barcelona, he became the huge player that he is thanks to Arsene Wenger and Arsenal.

But what can you say about Cesc?

He was undoubtedly the best player we’ve had over the last 6 seasons, and it is extremely sad to see him leave. I saw the photographs of Cesc being unveiled as a Barcelona player and even though it has seemed inevitable over the last few years, it was still a very emotional sight.

Don’t be mistaken, this kid (yes, he’s still only a kid) gave everything for Arsenal every single time he put on the shirt. And that’s what made him different to anyone else we’ve seen since 2005. He had immense talent, skill and technique but also had great desire, dedication and a fantastic attitude.

But the bottom line was that we failed him.

We failed to strengthen the squad to take advantage of his talent to win trophies, and we put far too much pressure on his shoulders without any support.

We came close a couple of times of winning the Premier League, and with a bit of luck Cesc might have added to his solitary FA Cup winners medal of 2005. The 2007/2008 season springs to mind, when Arsenal looked like a championship winning side until that horrible and tragic tackle on Eduardo. The victim and the temperamental captain on that day have also move on to pastures new.

Cesc gave the Arsenal fans so many beautiful moments, and here some of my favourites:

Cesc’s wonderstrike against AC Milan at the San Siro

That “tackle” on Ashley Cole

His countless goals against Tottenham

Goodbye Cesc, we wish you the best of luck and you will be sorely missed.

You came to Arsenal as a boy, and left us as a man.

And if you weren’t sad enough about Cesc’s departure, here are a couple of tribute videos I found on YouTube. I’m sorry, I’m just off to cry…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD4zdnVE_MI[/youtube]

Credit to TheMcBoro.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6SgQ6fHdEU[/youtube]

Credit to medbouncing.

Well it’s been a while since my last post and to be quite honest nothing exciting has really happened since then anyway.

Flamini obviously went to AC Milan which is an excellent deal for him since he’s only really had one good season. You wonder if he will suffer a similar fate as other former Arsenal players such as Pires, Petit, Freddie, Henry and Overmars have but the guy is still young so he could be a success there. But quite frankly I couldn’t be arsed since he’s not an Arsenal player anymore.

Although I do find it mildly amusing though he’ll be playing in the UEFA Cup next season.

So Jens has officially left Arsenal and joined VFB Stuttgart back in Germany.

And all you can do is wish him the best of luck. Despite his antics he was an excellent servant for the club and will always be remembered as a vital member of the team that went an entire Premier League season unbeaten. He was a fantastic goalkeeper and I will always remember the save against Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Old Trafford, the penalty save against Riquelme and his one-man show in the FA Cup against Manchester United.

The sight of Ronaldo and Rooney crying was priceless.

And Bacary Sagna has signed a new ‘long term’ contract with the club after a fantastic first season at the club.

He was arguably the best player last season and deserves his new deal. He really has added steel to our back line and from what I have seen seems to be the model professional. We suffered when he was out injured in the last part of the season and after only ending up 4 points off the top he could have made a difference, especially in the game against Chelsea.

Then we get to Alexander Hleb.

I was always a big fan of his and been impressed with his excellent ball retention, but 11 goals in 3 seasons tells its own story. Last season this was highlighted when we were relying too much on Adebayor as the goals dried out. He does add a unique creativity to the side but just doesn’t add enough to the side.

We have players like Fabregas, Rosicky, Van Persie and Adebayor who will always be a threat regardless of whether Hleb is in the starting lineup, and to be honest we might play more direct without him. I certainly won’t miss him after the crap with Inter Milan and the ice cream so as far as I’m concerned I hope he leaves. I can’t see him in an Arsenal shirt next season and to be honest I wouldn’t want to.

We’re going to have a summer of crazy transfer speculation which will probably involve every player under the sun so I’ll be keeping clear of that and only comment on completed moves and stories. I can see only 2 or 3 new faces coming in despite the fact that Flamini and Jens have departed (with Hleb and Gilberto possibly leaving too) because the fact is Wenger has faith in his young players.

Diaby is highly-rated at the club and could be given a chance in the middle. Gilberto might rediscover his form with Flamini gone and Eboue might actually come good out wide (okay, forget the last one). We have Djourou to come into the team, whether that’s in midfield or defence. And I’m not sure Wenger might even buy a striker – he’ll probably just hope Eduardo and Van Persie recover in time to play the majority of the next campaign.

So until our next big news story, I will bid adieu.

The Man, The Myth – The Legend…

Well even the official Arsenal website has confirmed that Thiery Henry will be leaving Arsenal Football Club for Barcelona subject to a medical on Monday.

And the deal is reported to be for 4 years.

What can you say?

From Theirry’s point of view it’s a great move. He is 30 and now has a chance to play for Barcelona who are a huge club and have some of the best players in the world with Ronaldinho, E’eto and Messi. He is leaving a club which is still in transition and at his age I suppose he doesn’t have time to wait for honours, especially the Champions League which is the only major title he is yet to win in his illustrious career.

From Arsenal’s perspective £16 million for a player that cost £10.5 million and has given his best years to our club – scoring over 200 goals in the process – isn’t as bad as it could have been.

But boy does it hurt.

Many Arsenal fans including myself will wish Thierry all the best and there’s no doubt he has been a fantastic servant to the club – an unbelievable legend in fact – but seeing him play in a Barcelona shirt next season is going to painful.

He has been such a massive part of our club for so long that you wonder what will happen next. Surely Arsenal have to bring in someone to replace him?

The biggest concern to most fans now is the status of some of the other players in the squad, as well as the manager. I know Henry hasn’t at his peak last season with all his injuries but there’s no doubting he is still an excellent player, and by far the best player in the Premier League over the last few seasons.

Arsenal and the Premiership will miss him dearly.

What will Fabregas, Gallas, Toure and the others think of Titi’s departure?

It does seems strange that Arsenal would rather have £16 million, which in all honestly isn’t much in the transfer market, than keep an icon who would attract people to the club – and more importantly make our current players stay here.

With all the speculation surrounding Henry’s future I suppose his move comes as no great surprise – but it still a painful experience. How many Arsenal fans actually thought he was going to leave?

Hopefully Arsene has something under his sleeve – or maybe Dein’s departure is tearing up the club. Only time will tell.

Well Arsenal have let yet another experienced player go in Lauren and he has decided to join Portsmouth. I wasn’t surprised he stayed in England because he’s been here for 7 years and is settled now – and Pompy is a better choice than West Ham or Charlton!

And just like Pires, Vieira, Edu, Parlour, Wrighty and Seaman when they moved clubs I wish Lauren all best for the future.

When I first heard about Lauren possibly moving on I was surprised but then Wenger has been building this new team for the last couple of years and Lauren just wasn’t a part of it.

It’s sad when players like Lauren and Pires leave the club because they have given everything and contributed so much to our recent successes.

It’s easy to look back and remember previous successes.

But times change quickly and move on in football.

You sometimes lose sight of the future in football especially when it’s all about winning and playing good football here and now but we are now looking at Wenger’s new team and they are more than capable of emulating the team of previous years.

Players move from club to club all the time but Arsenal have the habit of buying players who stay loyal and become a part of the club.

Lauren was one of those and I will be giving him a warm welcome the next time Portsmouth grace the Emirates turf.