Arsene Wenger admits Arsenal are 'sad' about losing Cesc Fabregas to Barcelona & reiterates desire to keep Samir Nasri
The French boss believes the club will move forward regardless of the departure of the "world-class" midfielder, and is confident of bringing in one or two players to cover gaps
Aug 15, 2011 9:55:00 AM
Fabregas completed his transfer to his boyhood club on Monday after another summer of drawn-out negotiations between the two sides, and whilst Wenger says he wanted to keep the Spanish international, he feels Arsenal will move on.
"We lost a world-class player and we are sad about it," said Wenger. "We did try to keep him but in the end, you have as well to respect the desire of the player, and this club is 125 years old this season and many big players left the club and the club went on, and that's what we want to show – that we have the strength and unity to fight as ever."
Another player who has been heavily linked with a move away from the Emirates Stadium during the transfer window has been Samir Nasri, who has less than a year remaining on his contract with the Gunners and is attracting interest from Manchester City.
Wenger is keen on keeping the midfielder, and does not feel that losing Fabregas will result in the French international also leaving.
"The two are not linked in my spirit," he said. "Ideally I want Samir Nasri to stay but as much as we were in a strong position on the contract side with Cesc, the situation is a bit different [with Nasri], but hopefully we can sort the situation out."
When asked what the chances of retaining Nasri on scale of one to 10, Wenger replied: "I don't like the scale in the game, because it's always not very predictable and it's very difficult to answer that question in an honest way.
"What is more important than the message is how strong we feel inside, and we are determined. We've bought some very good players and overall the feeling inside this squad is very strong and the desire and belief is very strong. But of course [we] will be encouraged by results in the very near future, and certainly by the fact we can still bring one or two players in because we are a bit short."
