On Monday morning, Samir Nasri told BeIn Sports that he will leave Manchester City if the club wish for him to move on.
On the surface, Nasri’s comments appear somewhat innocuous – why would a player choose to stay at a club where he is not wanted? However, the Frenchman’s vow seemed to emerge from the blue, and a deeper analysis of the seemingly arbitrary revelation would suggest that his successful career at the Etihad Stadium is coming to a premature end.
Has Manuel Pellegrini told the midfielder that he will be sold next summer? Is he aware of a potential signing that could compromise his place in the team? These are just the paranoid queries of a Manchester City fan who doesn’t want to see such an important player leave the club, but if Manuel Pellegrini is planning on allowing Nasri to pack his bags in the near future, I’d urge him to reconsider immediately for the sake of the team.
Since moving to Eastlands in a £24m deal from Arsenal in the summer of 2011, Nasri’s contribution to the team has been questioned and criticised on an almost weekly basis. Often defined as a lazy player who offers little in games where City are forced to defend for significant periods of time, the 27-year-old has allegedly never replicated the scintillating form he hit at Arsenal in a sky blue shirt. But it is unproductive to judge a creative midfielder on his defensive qualities. The accusations regarding his inefficiency when defending may be true, they also apply to David Silva who escapes similar criticism, but they ignore his strengths that have played an instrumental role in City’s progression in the last four years.
At 27-years-old, Samir Nasri is the youngest of City’s starting midfield four at the time of writing. Alongside Yaya Touré and David Silva, he holds membership in a trio that has reinvented City’s attacking play with a delicious combination of power, pace and creativity. The threesome operate most effectively on the perimeters of the 18-yard-box where Touré sits deeper and allows Nasri and Silva to find space in dangerous areas. The Frenchman’s movement and composure on the ball has aided the Blues in the impressive amount of goals they have been able to score in the last four seasons and so far this term, despite only making 10 league appearances, only Jesus Navas (32) and James Milner (31) have created more chances than Nasri (28).
Touré and Silva’s respective contributions to the team may receive more applause, but in the last three seasons, only Silva (209) has created more chances for the team than Nasri (172). He is a constant supply of imagination in the midfield which is reflected in his tally of 32 assists in 145 appearances for Manuel Pellegrini’s side.
Perhaps even more important to the way Manchester City play is Nasri’s effortlessness on the ball. In his last three seasons at the Etihad Stadium, Nasri has averaged an admirable pass completion rate of 91%, higher than any other player in the team. So far this term, 55% of his 510 passes have been in a forward direction, illustrating his enthusiasm for driving the team forward into threatening areas. His intelligence in possession is a reason for why Manchester City have been able to boast an average of 55% possession in the last three years.
The Frenchman’s job description primarily involves providing strikers with opportunities to score goals, but when called upon, Nasri has it in his locker to score them himself. Goals in crucial fixtures against Manchester United, Sunderland in the League Cup final and West Ham United on the last day of the season showcased Nasri’s potential to be a big game player and he finished the 2013/2014 season with a respectable total of 7 goals. The former Arsenal-man is yet to hit the back of the net this term, but a shot accuracy rate of 80% (higher than any other City player) offers encouragement.
With Samir Nasri, Manuel Pellegrini has a conundrum. Technically, he is one of the most gifted players in the Premier League, but the position he plays makes his place in the starting eleven incredibly uncertain. With the indispensable David Silva nearing a return to first team action and Jesus Navas offering the Blues a fresh outlet down the right flank, Nasri is likely to be sacrificed in Pellegrini’s 4-4-2 system in the near future. The trouble is that Nasri offers little width, therefore creating an imbalance when Navas starts, and not enough of a goal threat to play further up the pitch alongside Sergio Agüero, Edin Džeko, or Stevan Jovetic.
There has been a noticeable drop in pace in City’s attacking play this season, something Pellegrini has attempted to remedy by handing Jesus Navas a major role in the side. The Chilean’s preference for a 4-4-2 formation means that if Navas retains his place in the starting eleven, City will have to balance the side by bringing in another winger to operate on the left flank. As a result, Nasri is likely to be sacrificed, and he’ll undeservingly become a bit-part player.
Samir Nasri is a player too valuable an asset to drop to the bench, but if Manuel Pellegrini persists with a 4-4-2 system, his place in the team is the most vulnerable. The predicament lies in the fact that a player with the capabilities of Nasri will leave the club if he is not played enough. Not only is the Frenchman a key player in the side when he starts, he is also the perfect replacement for David Silva should the Spaniard suffer another injury – but a back up role is a role that Nasri will immediately reject.
The signs seem to suggest that City will move for a winger next summer, but before making that move, the club must make an intelligent decision on the future of a man who has been a figurehead in our successes over the last four years.
