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Clichy: Nasri may be all that Arsenal need

James Olley, Sports Correspondent
1 Sep 2008


Gael Clichy today hailed the impact of new boy Samir Nasri and claims Arsenal fans should not be concerned if his fellow Frenchman is the club's only major signing this summer.

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger has not ruled out a further addition to the squad before the transfer window closes at midnight tonight and was yesterday linked with a move for Real Madrid defender Christoph Metzelder.

Aaron Ramsey, Amaury Bischoff and Mikael Silvestre have all moved to north London but it is the £15.8million capture of Nasri from Marseille that has caught the imagination.

The 21-year-old produced another fine display as Arsenal easily overcame Newcastle 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday and Clichy admits he is impressed with his team-mate's fast start.

He said: "Samir has adapted quickly to the English game. He is quite quick, he is good on the ball and can go past players, is strong, can play on the left, the right or the middle, he plays for the team.

"That is the type of player every team needs and he was a great signing for us. He has shown that and hopefully he will carry on."

Nasri's form is not lost on his manager, who described his role in Arsenal's win over Kevin Keegan's side as a "complete performance".

"He had a great touch on the ball, good vision, good team discipline and, overall, we like him to have the ball because we know, every time he does, he'll do something with it," said Wenger. "For me, that's a sign of a player that, when he gets the ball, you're happy. You don't have to worry about the rest."

Despite only being on the pitch for three minutes, Joey Barton caused considerable controversy in his first appearance after serving a three-month jail term for assault.

Nasri was booked for deliberately tripping Barton, who received a hostile reception from the Arsenal fans and is now set for his Football Association hearing into his assault on Ousmane Dabo on Friday.

Reader views (1)

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I appreciate the signing of Nasri in the club. Hope with him we can win all trophies this season. Arsenal is complete this season, another good signing so far is Carlos Vela. However, I don't appreciate Nicklas Bendtner, he doesn't improve.

- Ezekiel Kitula, Musoma,Tanzania, 01/09/2008 14:49
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