Arsenal Transfer News: Keeping Samir Nasri a Huge Win for Gunners

Arsenal have been engaged in a massive campaign to keep a pair of their superstar midfielders, in Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas since the instant the summer's transfer window flew open. Fabregas' saga was little surprise at all, as Barcelona have been chasing their former youth academy product almost from the instant he joined the Gunners at age 16, but Nasri was a bit of a surprise. 

The 24-year-old Frenchman told reporters at the start of the summer that unless the Gunners improved their talent level and gave him a major pay raise, he was leaving after the coming season. That prompted serious interest in the pint-sized playmaker around the Premiership, as Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United all proved in need of a playmaking midfielder of his skill level. 

However, a report from the Daily Star indicates that the Gunners' fight to keep the talented French midfielder might be coming to an end after all. 

According to the report, Nasri told the Gunners that he would be returning to Emirates for next season, and would not seek a transfer out of North London until at least the end of next year. The star midfielder was thought to be leaning towards a move to City if he left Emirates after the Blues offered him a £160,000 per-week wage in a deal, but that appears not to have swayed the Frenchman towards leaving the Gunners. 

While the report has yet to be confirmed by either Nasri or the Gunners, if it's true, this is a major victory for Arsenal in a summer that had not gone according to plan for many fans. 

Nasri is one of the best young midfielders in the sport, a dynamic force offensively who is just as gifted as a scorer as he is a playmaker, facilitator and ball-handler. He's capable of boosting a club's offensive fortunes with his spectacular play when he's healthy and being forced to deal the talented midfielder this summer would have been incredibly costly to the Gunners' hopes of ending their six-year hardware drought. 

Now, the Gunners' talent level remains one of the highest in the Premiership on the offensive end of the pitch. Pairing Nasri with the likes of Jack Wilshere, Cesc Fabregas, Theo Walcott, Robin van Persie and Gervinho on the attack gives the Gunners a serious offensive threat, one capable of scoring from virtually anywhere on the offensive end. 

On top of that, making sure that Nasri is staying next season greatly boosts the Gunners' chances of keeping the Frenchman beyond next season. It extends the deadline before which manager Arsene Wenger must convince him to stay, and gives Arsenal another shot to win hardware with Nasri on the roster, thereby increasing their chances of keeping the dynamic playmaker. 

Does that mean that Nasri is going to stay at Arsenal beyond next year? Not quite. 

If Arsenal don't up their offer to the talented Frenchman, or bolster their defense, or win hardware (I feel like any of those three would pretty much do it), he's as good as gone on the open market next season. 

But with Nasri telling Wenger he's sticking around until the end of the season, it shows that he's happy enough with the improvements in the club that he's willing to stay for a season, if not longer. While it's not guaranteed, Wenger has to like his chances of keeping the playmaker in the fold. He's already convinced him to stick around for a season; all he has to do now is get him to stay longer.