Everton should not hesitate to sign Samir Nasri for free
According to Daily Mail, Everton manager Marco Silva is considering a move to sign free-agent Samir Nasri after his doping ban expires next month. The 31-year-old last played for Turkish club Antalyaspor in January before being tested positive for banned substances.
Nasri started his career with Marseille and moved on to Arsenal in 2008, where he spent three seasons before joining Manchester City. At the Etihad, he had the best time as a footballer, winning the Premier League on two occasions and the League Cup once.
He was also a part of the Manchester City team that reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League in 2015/16. The Frenchman accumulated a total of 171 appearances for the Cityzens across all competitions over the course of five seasons, finding the back of the net on 26 occasions.
However, he fell out of favour following Pep Guardiola’s arrival and spent time on loan at Sevilla in the 2016/17 season, before moving to the Turkish league with Antalyaspor.
Everton have made a decent start to their Premier League campaign under new manager Marco Silva and the Toffees currently sit 11th in the standings with 12 points from their first 8 games. Everton went into the international break with an impressive 2-1 win over Leicester City. They have shown a lot of promise but one might say that they could have done much better since they are yet to face the big guns of the Premier League.
Richarlison has been the standout performer for Silva’s side since his £40million arrival at Goodison Park in the summer. The Brazilian has chipped in with four goals and has been supported well by Theo Walcott and Gylfi Sigurdsson, who have also contributed with goals and assists.
Everton were struggling after back-to-back defeats at the hands of West Ham United and Arsenal but got their campaign back on track courtesy Sigurdsson’s inspirational display against Fulham. The 29-year-old scored a brace to power the Toffees to a 3-0 win. He followed it up with a stunning long-range effort that proved to be the winner against Leicester City.
Gylfi Sigurdsson’s contribution has been instrumental in Everton’s return to form and the 29-year-old Iceland international has shouldered the responsibility of playing as the team’s key playmaker.
However, Everton do not have many creative midfielders in their ranks. Silva does have Morgan Schneiderlin who is more of a defensive midfielder but youngster Kieran Dowell is the only other central attacking playmaker. Despite boasting of plenty of players who can play on the flanks, Everton lack a versatile central attacking midfielder who can also play as a supporting striker.
And the vastly experienced Samir Nasri should be the ideal man to provide cover and competition for the likes of Richarlison and Sigurdsson. Given that he has been out of action for quite some time, he might take time to find his feet but with his quality, it will be hard to back against him adding value to the team.
Nasri has all the qualities of a creative midfielder. The Frenchman’s technical ability and vision to provide incisive passes to the attackers up front is commendable. He also tends to drift wide at times where he uses his crossing ability.
Given that he is pretty dynamic and versatile, he could add value to the squad as a complete attacking midfielder. Furthermore, he can also operate either as a deep-lying-playmaker or a central midfielder.
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However, Everton should be looking to use him as a playmaker behind the striker and the 31-year-old is likely to flourish under Silva’s free-flowing style of play.
Hence, Everton should not hesitate to sign the Frenchman and this signing might power the team to greater heights.
