Photo by Ronnie Macdonald

There have been many transfer rumors regarding Samir Nasri. The three most prominent have been to Manchester United,  Manchester City and now, as a late development on Friday evening, Chelsea. Surely Arsenal cannot sell one of their best players to their Premiership rivals.

Nasri has been in contract talks since the end of the season. He has one year on his deal and is looking for an increase in his wages. Although he claims it is to see the club’s ambition before he signs, I don’t believe it.

Arsene and Arsenal already are having a tough summer ahead with the constant Cesc to Barca rumors as well as Clichy’s prospective departure and possible others out the door such as Bendtner. Clichy is being touted to sign for Man City as well, while Bendtner could end up possibly at Borussia Dortmund, although no concrete offer for the Dane has been made.

If Cesc is to go, the club cannot let Nasri leave. Losing two of your best players would be a nightmare start to the upcoming Premier League campaign as well as Arsenal having to deal with certain backlash from supporters.

Arsene has already spoken out saying he will not sell to Manchester United. I don’t see him acting against that statement and selling him to the defending champions and arguably Arsenal’s biggest title rival. I also don’t see United spending the £20million on a player with one year remaining on his deal with the spending spree they have already been on.

As far as the two Manchester clubs, City seems to be the more likely. They have money constantly burning their pockets as well as they can offer wages that no other club can. There also is a precedent for Arsenal selling players to City. In the summer of 2009, Arsenal sold both Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Adebayor to them. This was before Man City seemed to be a title contender. Also Toure and Adebayor were desperate to leave the Emirates with Toure’s declining relationship with Gallas and Adebayor looking for wages Arsenal wouldn’t offer.

However, Man City has backed off the stance that they are trying to sign the French midfielder. They have been only monitoring him and view him as a back-up plan for later in the summer according to The Guardian.

If Man City’s interest peaks then selling Nasri even for the quoted £20million, which is a good bit of business for a player with a year left, sends a bad message to current players and possible incoming ones. By selling one of their best players to a league rival, surely it would send out the notion that Arsenal isn’t going to compete for the Premier League title and are only looking for Champions League qualification, which had the season ran on a little longer this season, they may have missed out on.

The only way I can see Arsenal selling Nasri is to a club abroad. There are reports that AC Milan and Inter could be interested and it Arsenal are to sell, selling to one of these two clubs seem to be in the best interest of Arsenal FC.

However, Arsenal can’t run the risk of not selling Nasri and allowing him to walk for free at the end of the season, much like Flamini did when he left for Milan. If he refuses to renew his contract, he must either be sold this window or in January.

Arsenal needs to sell on their terms and before they sell Nasri, they need to sort out Cesc’s situation because losing both players is surely a disaster. Also if they are to sell they need to find a replacement and sign him before Nasri exits the Emirates.

Will Nasri re-sign? Will he end up at United? Will Man City pick up interest? Will he be shipped abroad or will his contract expire and be free to sign wherever he pleases next year? Voice your opinion in the comments.