Quite frankly I do not know what Nasri’s intentions are but the ball is very much in his court right now. We can transfer list the player but he does not have to agree terms with anyone who meets his valuation. It would make financial sense for himself and his agent to be available to join any club of his choice on a free transfer, We would not be able to stop him talking to the likes of Manchester United,

My back and my legs have well and truly had it today, not only that but I think some sort of virus has crept up behind me, knowing that I am weak and vulnerable and the virus has struck, leaving me with a nasty cough and horse throat.

The physical strains are down to playing two games of football last night, that is something that I haven’t done since I was knee high to a grasshopper or something like that. I am often bruck after one game on a Tuesday but two was painful. As usual after football on a Tuesday evening a few of the lads went to Nandos to indulge in some tasty Piri piri chicken as well as clinging onto the hope that we may come across Craig Eastmond satisfying his boredom by going head to head with a flame grilled chicken. If you don’t follow Eastmond on Twitter then you will not have a clue why I just said that but hey, never mind.

Whilst tucking into our grub, I was in long conversation with a good Gooner friend of mine about the contract situations at Arsenal regarding messrs Clichy, Cesc and of course Samir Nasri.

Cesc Fabregas still has 4 years on his existing contract so our position is strong for the time being but as the years tick by, his valuation will gradually diminish. The only way Cesc will keep his valuation is if he signs an extension to his current deal, I cannot imagine that a new deal would be top of his priority list at this moment in time so what to do?

Do we risk losing Cesc Fabregas on a free or give into Barcelona’s ridiculous €40 valuation?

It would be easy to say take the money and run, bring in another talented player and start again, But when you look at the transfer market today and see how players such as Jordan Henderson are going for close to £20 million or Luka Modric is being valued in the region of £30+ million the question is, how to do you find a replacement with similar quality and attributes to Cesc Fabregas? What kind of transfer will it take to prize that player away, not only that but what type of wages will that player demand?

According to Opta stats, Cesc Fabregas has created more chances for others over the last few years than any other player across Europe. Cesc Fabregas completed a remarkable 38 through passes last season which was 15 more than the second highest in the league. This was all with our captain having continuous hamstring problems and often playing with the handbrake on because of this problem.

When Cesc does not play, we lose his incredible cutting edge so replacing that cutting edge with a replacement signing would be a massive task for the manager.

If Cesc is to leave after his contract runs out then the likes of Jack Wilshere will be 23 and Aaron Ramsey will be 24. If those two continue to develop at the rate they are currently doing then who is to say that Cesc will still be a better player than his midfield team mates. It would be a case of thank you Cesc, you are free to go home and enjoy a fat signing on fee. You deserve it.

In the meantime, I would rather we focused our energies on repairing his hamstrings or at least managing them much better than they were and build a team around him that suit his strengths. Cesc needs attacking movement, he needs runners, he needs intelligent movement that can creek the door open for Cesc to find that gap. A player like Luis Suarez would have been wonderful for Cesc. Last season the movement would usually only come from Theo Walcott and Robin Van Persie, at the end of the season it was only the latter who looked to find spaces in the box.

I do not know what Gervinho’s movement is like as I haven’t watched a full game of his as yet but I pray that he has that in his game, if he does then Cesc will develop a good understanding with him and that will be good for us.

Samir Nasri on the other hand still tends to come towards the ball instead of away from it. I remember Wenger talking about trying to teach him to make runs. In fact that was one thing that stuck in my mind when he made his Arsenal debut against West Brom, he followed the ball around the pitch and wanted to get on the ball as often as possible.

At Bolton away last season he showed he was very capable of it when Van Persie floated a delightful scooped pass into his path to put us ahead but Nasri blasted at the keeper instead of slotting past him. That thought still frustrates me. Why go for the percentages instead of having faith in your quality, I guess that summed up our end of season, we didn’t trust our ability and stuttered through the run in.

While talking about Nasri and the subject of contracts, Samir Nasri will see out his contract at Arsenal. That is according to French correspondent Phillipe Auclair who was speaking to Talksport radio

Quite frankly I do not know what Nasri’s intentions are but the ball is very much in his court right now. We can transfer list the player but he does not have to agree terms with anyone who meets his valuation. It would make financial sense for himself and his agent to be available to join any club of his choice on a free transfer, We would not be able to stop him talking to the likes of Manchester United, Manchester City or god forbid Tottenham Hotspurs.

I could handle Cesc leaving on a free because he has been at our club for a long time now, has consistently given the club great performances over a number of years whilst Nasri has a long way to go before he can match the contribution of Cesc Fabregas.

Does Arsene already know that Nasri plans to see out his last year at Arsenal and the likely Gervinho signing is a direct replacement? Or will we be looking for another player to replace Nasri should he not extend his current contract.

It is difficult to know what is bubbling under the surface but one thing is for sure, it would be sad to see a fans favourite leave the club in this manner, A manner that he is perfectly entitled to, that must be said. When you sign a contract, there is no guarantees that an extension will be signed but when a manager puts so much faith in you and your development is visible along with your support chanting your name pretty much every game. The prospect of walking away at this stage leaves a somewhat bitter taste in the mouth.

In my eyes, Samir Nasri owes Arsene Wenger another contract. Nasri is still young with many years ahead of him. Money should not be his priority right now, it should be about development and trophies. If Nasri continued his early form until the end of the season then we could have found ourselves in a much better position than the one we finished in. If Robin could make such a difference on his own then what would we have been like with Nasri’s early season form alongside it?

I still believe he will stay at Arsenal. I think it would be sheer madness and greed otherwise so I am sticking with that for now until I hear anything different.

One thing is for certain though, we need to build a winning team around these two players if we are to maximise our chances of keeping them for the longer term.

That is the plan and that is why Wenger and Gazidis are working hard behind the scenes to bring in the players we need to lift us to the next level.

Back tomorrow.Back tomorrow.