Gervinho: Arsenal can cope without Fab

NEW Arsenal forward Gervinho maintains the club will move on should they fail to keep hold of wantaway captain Cesc Fabregas and contract rebel Samir Nasri.

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola has reiterated the Spanish club’s desire to bring their former trainee back to the Nou Camp, with sporting vice-president Josep Bartomeu reported to have jetted into London looking to push through a £35 million (€40m) deal.

Fabregas missed Arsenal’s successful tour of Asia as he worked on his fitness because of a niggling hamstring injury, and could also sit out Saturday’s friendly in Cologne.

Nasri, meanwhile, has yet to agree terms on a new deal, with Manchester City one of several suitors for the £20m-rated France midfielder.

While there are set to be plenty more developments over the closing six weeks of the summer transfer window, Gervinho, who has now completed his £11m move from Lille, insists whatever happens, life at Arsenal will go on.

“It is football, everything moves quickly,” Gervinho said.

“If the club does not manage to keep these players, they will be able to replace them.”

Gervinho added: “Arsenal will always remain a large club. No-one knows what will happen in the future, maybe in a year or two Arsenal will win titles.”

Despite Wenger’s determination to hold onto his key men, with lucrative new deals on the table for both, the Arsenal manager has become frustrated with Barcelona’s continued public pursuit of Fabregas, labelling Xavi’s comments last week as “very disrespectful”.

Xavi claimed Fabregas had told him he was “suffering” because of his desire to join the Catalan club.

However, the Spain World Cup winning midfielder insists he did not want to get into a “war of words” with the Gunners boss, claiming he was “only acting in the interest of Cesc and of Barca”.

“I’m sorry. My intention was not to offend Arsenal and Wenger,” Xavi said yesterday.

“We know that Cesc has this desire to come and I said that he was suffering. But I don’t want to offend either Wenger or Arsenal. I was only looking out for the interests of Cesc and Barca.

“The controversy seems absurd to me. I don’t want to get into a war of words with Wenger.”

There is, though, unlikely to be a smooth finale to what has become a perennial and protracted saga.

Wenger is thought to already be looking at potential replacements should the departures of Fabregas and Nasri leave a gaping hole in Arsenal’s creative midfield.

Brazil midfielder Felipe Melo has announced he is close to leaving Juventus, and is a player Wenger has tracked in the past, while moves for Bayern Munich’s French playmaker Frank Ribery, Valencia midfielder Juan Mata and Bosnian Miralem Pjanic, at Lyon, have also been suggested.

The Arsenal boss is also expected to bring in at least one more defender, with Bolton’s Gary Cahill and German international Per Mertesacker long-term targets.

Southampton youngster Alex Chamberlain believes he is ready to play in the Premier League, and Wenger remains keen to bring the 17-year-old to Emirates Stadium, although probably not at the reported fee of £10m wanted by the npower Championship side.