We’ve finally signed Samir Nasri! 11 July, 2008

It’s been the longest transfer ever but we’ve finally got our man. Samir Nasri has agreed to join us from Marseille. Back at the end of last season Wenger said we could expect a signing within a couple of weeks, which was going to be Nasri. Then excuse after excuse came and it was the most tedious signing in history.

I should be looking at Arsenal.com this morning excited about our new player and wondering how he’ll do for us, but the fact is we all knew he was signing a long, long time ago. I’m just glad it’s finally sorted now, it was getting to that stage where I thought it was just never going to happen.

He does sound a good player though. He was voted Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year for in 2007 and was also Marseille’s Player of the Year that season. The fee is undisclosed, as per usual, but back at the end of May the sum of £13m was being reported so I’m getting we’ve paid a decent amount of money for him.

He’s 21, and was one of the young stars in France and certainly at Marseille. He hasn’t quite broken into the France national side yet, he only played twice, as a sub in Euro 2008 but I’m sure he’ll be very much pat of their future plans.

Here’s what the manager and the player had to say:

Arsène Wenger:
“We are delighted to be signing Samir Nasri. He is young, quick and technically an outstanding player. He has shown great potential with his performances for Marseille and the French national team over the past two seasons and he will add great quality to our squad.”

Samir Nasri:
“I’m very happy to become an Arsenal player, it means such a lot to me. This is a very important step in my life as a football player because Arsenal is a massive club. I really hope everything will go well for me here. I will do my best for Arsenal and its fans and I am honoured to be part of such a great football club.”

Nasri will wear the no.8 shirt and joins up with the team for the first time on 21st July for pre-season training.

Kerrea Gilbert has joined Leicester on loan. The young defender will be there for the duration of the season. Will we see him back? Who knows, I did think highly of him but we all know how difficult it is to break into the side at Arsenal. Good luck Kerrea.

That’s about it for today. There are other bits about but nothing worth talking about really. Hleb says he doesn’t like London.

Right I’m off now. Happy Friday everyone.