• Premier League

Arsenal offer £110,000-a-week Nasri rescue package

ESPN staff
July 8, 2011
Samir Nasri will reportedly be put in the same wage bracket as captain Cesc Fabregas © PA Photos
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Arsenal reportedly approached Samir Nasri on Friday with the same contract offer that convinced Cesc Fabregas to stay last summer.

Nasri is wanted by the Gunners' main title rivals, Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea, and Arsene Wenger is not in a strong bargaining position as the France international enters the final year of his contract.

Arsenal simply cannot allow £20 million to go to waste by seeing Nasri walk away for free next year, so they must persuade the 24-year-old to sign a new contract, or take the difficult decision to offload one of their prized assets.

Nasri has already rejected a £90,000-per-week five-year deal, according to the London Evening Standard, so now Arsenal will offer the same £110,000-per-week package that Fabregas earns. Such an agreement would almost double Nasri's current earnings.

Commenting on both Nasri and Fabregas, Wenger told Arsenal's official website: "Our position is always the same, we want to keep Cesc and I will fight as hard as I can to keep him. Samir Nasri is exactly the same. We will do everything we can to keep him."

Nasri has always maintained that "money has never been the motivation" but, as Harry Redknapp recently stated in the case of Tottenham's Luka Modric, it can prove extremely difficult to keep a player when he is being offered "double or triple his wages" from elsewhere.

The key to Wenger's chances will be to prove to Nasri that Arsenal are still showing ambition, having already spent £10.7 million on Lille forward Gervinho. Bolton's Gary Cahill and Valencia's Juan Mata remain transfer targets, but Wenger will not spend for the sake of it.

"If there were an obvious choice, people would have already made their decisions," Wenger said. "Everybody needs the same players for the same positions. We are at the top level and therefore need exceptional quality to strengthen our side.

"I can understand that people say 'you have money, just go out and buy', but it's not only that, we want to find the quality we need."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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