Arsenal's New Signing Samir Nasri

Arsenal have signed 21-year-old French attacking midfielder Samir Nasri.

Now that Nasri's signed, and taken over the number 8 jersey, recently vacated by Lassana Diarra, Arsenal supporters want to know good he is.

Here's some video of Nasri playing.



Samir Nasri only played briefly for France at Euro 2008. In France's strange game against Italy, Nasri came on as a substitute for the injured Ribery in the 10th minute, and was himself replaced when a France defender was red-carded, and France went down to 10 players. After the red card, Italy scored from a penalty kick, and even though France were a goal down, manager Raymond Domenech wanted to be conservative, and shore up the defense, so he replaced Nasri with central defender (and frequent bumbler) Jean-Alain Boumsong in the 26th minute.

Domenech's credibility was never very good at the best of times, and France went on to lose that game 2-0, but in his opinion, Nasri was a less desirable option than Sidney Govou who started that game, and stayed on when Nasri was subbed off. If Domenech is right, and Arsenal have signed a player who's not even as good as Govou, then Arsenal Supporters will have to keep their enthusiasm in check.

In France's other two games at Euro 2008, Samir Nasri only appeared as a sub against Romania, coming on for Benzema in the 77th minute.

Here's the player's file with French Football Federation:

NASRI Samir

Born June 26, 1987 in Marseille
Midfielder
Number of Selections for France's A team: 12 (6 friendlies, 4 Euro 2008 Qualifiers, and those 2 appearances at Euro 2008).
Number of goals scored for France: 2
Jersey Number: 11

Awards

Finalist of the Coupe de France (2006) with Marseille
Champion of Europe with France's under-17 squad (2004)

Clubs

Olympique de Marseille (2004-2008)
Arsenal FC (England, since July 2008)

The big hype surrounding Nasri came a little over a year ago when he first broke into the French team (March 2007) and was being compared wishfully to Zidane. The page where I found that You Tube clip said Nasri is the new Zidane. There are any number of so-called new Zidane's, including Liverpool-reject Bruno Cheyrou and Ligue 1 journeyman Camel Meriem, so, again, Arsenal Supporters might not want to get too carried away in their enthusiasm.

His career with France peaked in June 2007 when he was a starter for two consecutive Euro 2008 qualifiers. He was featured, at least in portions of those matches, in Zidane's spot in a 4-2-3-1, playing behind Anelka, and he looked great.

June 2, 2007 - France 2, Ukraine 0
June 6, 2007 - France 1, Georgia 0 (Nasri with the 33rd minute winner)

Since then, Nasri's only starts have been in a couple friendlies.

There were calls for him to start in place of Malouda at Euro 2008, but Domenech did not heed those calls.

In the category of gossip and rumors, Nasri allegedly doesn't get on well with Ribery, his France teammate, and his former teammate at Marseille.

From my vantage point, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger blew it by not signing Ribery. He was widely considered the best player in the German league during his first season at Bayern Munich, and is usually the best player for France when he plays.

For Marseille last season, with Ribery gone, Nasri had 6 goals and 11 assists.

When I've seen Nasri playing for France, he reminded me a little bit of Cesc, the way he's composed on the ball. Playing for Arsenal, I can easily foresee an outcry from fans, and maybe Nasri himself, about him being played out of position, having to play wide midfield, when his preferred position is as central attacking-midfield. Another possibility is that he'll have trouble getting a game.

Arsene Wenger has been on a bit of a losing streak: not winning competitions, unable to keep his squad together, a burgeoning reputation for underpaying players; I don't see Nasri as the player to make those problems go away, but I hope I'm wrong.

There has been a lot of speculation that Hleb might leave Arsenal, possibly for Barcelona, and that Nasri will be a good replacement. I'd rather see Hleb stay, and see Arsenal use a little more rotation so they can both get games. If Rosicky and Van Persie weren't so frequently injured, the team might be crowded in the attacker/midfielder - type position, but those two can't string together half a dozen games, and Hleb is a great player, so I hope he stays.