Manchester City and Arsenal haven’t had the best of relationships of late. Defender Gael Clichy has switched allegiance from Arsenal to City, Arsene Wenger has had a pop at City’s lucrative sponsorship deal and now the Arsenal boss has attacked City manager Roberto Mancini over comments about Arsenal midfielder Samir Nasri.
Manchester City have done little to hide the fact they want Nasri. The Arsenal midfielder is an in-demand asset with City one of many teams reportedly interested in acquiring his services. But with Arsenal insisting the player will not be leaving the Emirates this summer, Mancini admitted that he hoped to sign Nasri “by the end of the month”.
Mancini’s claims obviously didn’t go down well with Arsenal or Wenger. Wenger claimed that the comments “were not allowed” and against “the basic rules of football”. But with penalties or punishment for such practice very rare, should Wenger stop complaining and speak out himself about who he wants to sign?
Tapping up is a complicated yet ever-present problem in football. A quick search of the term on the internet will bring a long list of cases where clubs are reportedly at fault for tapping up in their pursuit of a player. Arsenal themselves have been at the centre of such storms in the past, including their pursuit of Marouane Chamakh back in 2009. Bordeaux president Jean-Louis Triaud then criticised Wenger for reportedly declaring his interest in the player. Whether cases like Nasri’s would be deemed tapping up would be up to investigators if the matter was reported but the culture of expressing an interest in a player is commonplace. In a summer where Cesc Fabregas’ transfer saga to Barcelona continues (with now Barcelona players weighing in with their own public comments), Arsenal may have to resort to playing dirty themselves to really compete.
Mancini’s comments obviously didn’t help the strained relationship between Arsenal and City. Whilst he did mention that Nasri is under contract, he probably shouldn’t have come out and sounded so confident or assured of signing a player under contract with another club within a certain time-frame. A club or manager publically expressing their interest in signing someone can easily unsettle that player but with the risk of punishment so small, making your transfer interests public may be the best way to get a potential transfer moving.
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In his criticism of Mancini, Wenger was insistent that Arsenal “don’t make any comments on players who are under contract in other clubs”. That is a fine moral stance from a well-respected figure in football but if Arsenal are keen to compete for the best players in the world they may have to start making their voices heard in a competitive and tough transfer market.
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