From Arsenal to Manchester City – Samir Nasri faces the football challenge of his life

SAMIR Nasri move to Manchester City from Arsenal yesterday for a reported £25 million pounds once again signalled Manchester City’s desire to bring home their first league title in forty five years.  The move which sees Mancini summer spending reach over £85 million pounds once again highlights City’s intention to be a force to be reckoned with both domestically and in the untested waters of the Champions League.

It is clear Mancini and his astute backroom staff have identified the lack of goals last season as a key contributing factor in their inability to sustain a real title challenge and the acquisition of Nasri will bring a much needed  flair, experience and creativity to what at times was a solid but uninspiring midfield.

Just as Cesc Fabregas will have to demonstrate his array of qualities to ensure his place in the Barcelona line up so too will Samri Nasri at Manchester City. As the City fans ironically chanted ‘boring boring City’ at the Reebok on Sunday as their team opened up Bolton with relative ease many pundits were quick declare City as the new attacking force in the English game, I am yet to be convinced.

Mancini is well aware that despite justified criticism last season for being too cautious the reliable De Jong, Barry, Toure and Milner were key components in Manchester City reaching the Champions League  for the first time in their clubs history. Like all top class managers Mancini is a strong character and believes wholeheartedly in his team selection.  There is no doubt that City this season will be far more entertaining than last season and Mancini is another year wiser to the frantic pace of the English game. However, I still expect in the big games for Mancini revert to his tried and trusted trio in  midfield.

Nasri was reportedly frustrated for large parts of last season for being used as a wide player and his frustration may be justified considering his best form came from the centre of midfield in which he found the net fifth teen times.  It will be interesting to see where Nasri fits into Mancini plans especially considering  the amount of quality that Mancini has at his disposal with Balotelli, Johnson, Dzeko, Tevez and Aguero all jostling for a position in the starting eleven.  David Silva performances have been excellent for City this season and I believe that his performances will be the difference between City winning the title and coming close. As to whether Samir Nasri will be able to truly fulfil his undoubted qualities at Manchester City is yet to be seen, one thing that he can be certain of  is that there is no guarantees at Manchester City. Nasri only needs to look across to his new teams Bellamy, Santa Cruz, Adebayor, Sean Wright Phillips, Onuoha to understand that despite his big money contract and the realistic prospect of winning trophies playing for Manchester City will certainly not be plain sailing.