Nasri unsure over Gunners future

Samir Nasri has cast more doubt over his Arsenal future by admitting he may not sign a new deal and would consider joining Manchester United.

Nasri's is entering the final year of his deal and the Gunners may be forced to cash in this summer if he refuses to agree an extension.

France team-mate and United left-back Patrice Evra last week urged Nasri to join him at Old Trafford.

And the 23-year-old midfielder has done nothing to ease any fears Arsenal fans might have ahead of his country's friendly against Poland on Tuesday.

Nasri told TF1's Telefoot: "I don't know if I will sign a new contract. Anyway, the discussions are ongoing.

"For the moment, I don't think about this. We will speak about it after the match with Poland.

"Do I want to go to Man United? First, we should see if it's real and if it is concrete."

The loss of Nasri would be a huge blow to Arsenal, with the midfielder undoubtedly the star of the first half of the Premier League season.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger: Contract negotiations with Samir Nasri have stalled but he will not be sold to Manchester United

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has claimed he could lose Samir Nasri this summer as the France international wants more money that is being offered by the club.

Reports suggest Nasri has been offered a new five-year contract earning £90,000 a week, a deal that would get him £4.6 million a year, but Goal.com revealed last month the former Marseille man wants parity with the club’s top earner; Cesc Fabregas.

The Spaniard is currently on £110,000 a week, a significant amount more than what is being offered to Nasri and Wenger has already admitted that if they can’t come to an agreement, he will have to sell the 23 year-old this summer in fear of losing such a valuable asset for free next July.

Speaking on French radio, Wenger said: “We have a financial disagreement which hasn't yet been settled. We are still in discussions but we haven't agreed a deal.”

Despite the current disagreement between the two parties, Wenger has reacted to Patrice Evra’s recent calls for Nasri to join him at Manchester United, as the Arsenal boss officially ruled out such a deal.

“One thing's for sure, we're not selling him to United,” he added.

Following a fairly poor season defensively with backline blunders a common theme, it has been reported that the club are looking to strengthen and add experience, something Wenger confirmed.

“I'd agree that we're after an experienced defender, maybe one who is used to the English game.”

'Are you ready to party?!' The show goes on as if nothing ever happened to Sepp Blatter's Fifa

"Are you ready to party?!" Grace Jones urged the Fifa hierarchy crammed into Zurich’s Hallenstadion on Tuesday as delegates tried to half-heartedly foot-tap their way through the world governing body’s darkest hour.

The Jamaican warbler clearly hadn’t been briefed; the backdrop of corruption, name calling, backstabbing and high treason fitting for the James Bond film she once graced has taken Fifa to its lowest ebb in more than 100 years.

Did Qatar buy its successful bid for the 2022 World Cup? Will defeated federations seek recompense for the huge outlay on lavish campaigns that ended in such futile fashion in December? Will more emerge about the alleged grubby dealings going on behind the doors of power?

Surely no party mood here.

But Fifa doesn’t do ‘low-key’ nor does it go big on introspection. And the grand opening to the 61st Congress lacked nothing in austerity-busting largesse, yet no-one could quite take their mind off the elephant in the room.

After a juggler and a Swiss dance troupe gave a performance that would have given the von Trapps a run for their money in Austria’s Got Talent, or the Sound of Music as it was better known 46 years ago, it was time for the top of the bill to make his entrance.

Sepp Blatter, destined for another four years at the helm as President after his sole challenger Mohammed Bin Hammam was forced to politely opt out of Wednesday’s now pyrrhic election, swept to the podium amid a ripple of applause more akin to a modest graduation ceremony.

He warned of dangers that lurked ahead for the beautiful game.

"I thought we were living in a world of fair play, respect and discipline,” Blatter told his hushed audience, the irony lost on pretty much every delegate present.

“I will speak of the danger lurking and I will tell you how we can fight this threat of danger, how our sport can play its role in bringing people together in the future.”

Jacques Rogge, the man at the heart of the IOC’s transformation from the dubiously elitist to model of sports administration, leant his support, saying the Olympics had faced its own nadir after the Salt Lake City bribery scandal and had gone on to ‘emerge stronger from within’.

And so it carried on, the longer the day progressed the more it seemed the anger and bile had a peculiarly British tinge.

As coach load upon coach load of Fifa stalwarts pulled up at the rain-soaked venue, a succession of exotically dressed delegates pledged their support to Herr Blatter. One when asked why replied: "Because he’s Superman."

The English and Scottish FAs issued an isolated rallying cry urging Fifa to postpone Wednesday’s Blatter walkover while esteemed international sports newspapers like L’Equipe and Gazzate dello Sport relegated the scandal from their leading pages.

For one Fifa patriarch, the 95-year-old former President Joao Havelange, the controversy was very much in the ‘storm in a teacup’ category.

“You are talking about suffering,” he told reporters.

“But I want to talk about happiness. What do you think would happen if the President was an English candidate? Everyone looks for mistakes because everyone wants to sit in that chair.”

And so attention turns to Wednesday and Blatter’s coronation.

Word is that Uefa are urging the Teflon Swiss to seek only a two-year extension to his reign at the top of the world’s most popular game, but history has shown he is no man for compromise and why should he contemplate one after pulling off the greatest coup of his career?

Chelsea will hold off completing £22m Romelu Lukaku deal until new manager is appointed

Romelu Lukaku is moving closer to a £22 million move to Chelsea but no deal will be completed until a new manager is in place at Stamford Bridge.

Lukaku has said that he wants his future sorted out before he begins the exams next week that form the final part of his High School diploma.

The Belgian wonderkid has long been near the top of Chelsea’s summer shopping list and the Londoners have been in negotiations with his club, Anderlecht, for a number of months.

However, Chelsea have told Anderlecht that they are in no position to sign Lukaku while their managerial position remains unresolved.

“Chelsea are looking for a manager before signing a player,” a source close to the negotiations told Goal.com. “What kind of signal would it send for them to sign a player before they have a manager in place?”

Chelsea’s hunt for a successor to Carlo Ancelotti could hinge on the result of Friday’s Euro 2012 qualifier between Belgium and Guus Hiddink-managed Turkey, a game that, coincidentally, Lukaku will play in.

Four days later, the player, who only turned 18 last month, is due to sit a geography exam as part of his diploma in tourism and public relations at a Brussels college.

Lukaku said: “I would like my future sorted out by June 5 because my exams start the following day, and I don’t want any other distractions that time.”

Anderlecht are resigned to losing the centre forward, who turned 18 last month, but have quoted suitors a £26m asking price.

It is more likely that the Belgian club will accept around £17.5m up front for the striker, plus another £4.5m of performance-related add-ons.

Anderlecht general manager Herman van Holsbeeck remained tight-lipped on Chelsea's interest in his prize asset. "There are several clubs that want this player, that is all I can say," he told Goal.com on Tuesday. "Romelu is with his national team and it is quiet around him. It is not good for us to talk a lot in newspapers or websites. It is important we are quiet."

The player himself accepts that he may have to begin life at Stamford Bridge, where Fernando Torres, Didier Drogba, Nicolas Anelka, Salomon Kalou and Daniel Sturridge already head a queue of proven attacking talent, watching on from the sidelines, but aims to stake his claim for regular first-team football.

Asked if his future was likely to be settled next week, Lukaku said: “That could be so, yes. It is going to be one of the top two or three clubs in England, or else I stay at Anderlecht. I want to leave because I want to score goals in stadia full of 50,000 people, and to play in the Champions League.

“If I go to a top club, in the beginning I know I will be on the bench, sometimes playing 10 or 15 minutes. That will be it at the start. But my goal is that, in those 15 minutes, I will grab my chance and do better every time so that, by the end of the season when it gets really important, and there are a lot of games, I will be ready.”

Manchester United star Dimitar Berbatov 'would consider' a sensational return to Tottenham

The Bulgarian striker looks set to leave Old Trafford for £10 million this summer after he was completely left out of the squad for the Champions League final defeat to Barcelona last Saturday.

Berbatov joined United from Spurs in acrimonious circumstances on the last day of the summer transfer window in 2008, but he has told friends he would be interested in a return to White Hart Lane.

The 30-year-old was a huge hit in north London as he scored 46 goals in all competitions in two seasons at Spurs following a £10.9m switch from Bayer Leverkusen in 2006 - but he angered fans and the club by refusing to play as he forced a move to Old Trafford.

Tottenham are believed to have discussed the possibility of re-signing Berbatov but are unlikely to make a bid due to the unsettling influence he had in the dressing room during his time at White Hart Lane.

Chairman Daniel Levy is also wary of Sir Alex Ferguson's interest in playmaker Luka Modric, and any discussions about Berbatov will inevitably raise the prospect of a deal including the Croatian. Spurs manager Harry Redknapp is adamant that Modric will not be sold despite the 25-year-old's suggestion that he is open to a move to a club in the Champions League.

"Dimitar will take some time to think about his future but the only clubs in England he would consider are those in the Champions League - or Tottenham," a source close to the player told Goal.com. "Right now, he does not want to play for United - and they don't seem to want him either."

Berbatov appeared with the rest of the United squad on Monday as they paraded through Manchester to celebrate winning the club's 19th English title.

But both the player and the club accept he will leave Old Trafford, with Berbatov out of contract next June and refusing to sign a one-year rolling deal worth £120,000-a-week.

Berbatov finished as the Premier League's joint top scorer with 21 goals but is unhappy at being relegated down the United pecking order following the emergence of Javier Hernandez.

Despite his age, he will not be short of suitors, although United will want to recoup as much as possible of the club record £30.75m fee they paid Spurs for the player in September 2008.

Berbatov is understood to favour a move to German giants Bayern Munich, while Italian side Juventus have also expressed an interest in the former Bayer Leverkusen striker.

Newcastle have also been linked with a £7.5m bid but Berbatov is understood to have no interest in a move to St James' Park despite supporting the club when he grew up.

Once Berbatov leaves Old Trafford, Sir Alex Ferguson will turn his attention to securing a younger replacement for the Bulgarian.