THE BEST SOCCER PLAYERS

Arsenal will complete the £11 million signing of French Samir Nasri from Marseille early next week. The skilful, 20-year-old playmaker will fill the position soon to be vacated by Alexander Hleb, whose departure was confirmed by his agent, Nikolai Shpilevski, on Friday. Nasri, who is expected to make a significant impact on this summer's European Championships, will sign a four-year deal with the north London club as Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger attempts to add depth to a squad which failed to keep pace with Manchester United and Chelsea in the final furlongs this season. Nasri, 20, has undergone a medical, agreed a four-year contract and will be announced an Arsenal player once he is released from a France training camp to put pen to paper. A source close to Marseille said: "The deal has been agreed. The medical took place on Wednesday, he agreed to sign on Thursday and the only hold up is that he is with the French squad at the moment." Wenger is a big admirer of Nasr

The transfer speculation surrounding Olympique Lyon winger Hatem Ben Arfa continues to grow as the Sun claims that the twenty-one year-old has already signed a deal with Arsenal after the Gunners agreed a €20 million deal with OL. According to English newspaper, the Sun, Arsenal have beaten off competition from Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea with a price tag of around €20m required to prize one of France's leading young lights away from his native country. It has been no secret that Arsenal boss Arsène Wenger is a keen admirer of the player however the suggestion had been that Ben Arfa would be used by Lyon as a makeweight in a deal to bring Samir Nasri north from Marseille. Speculation has been rife over the last month that the winger could be on his way out of the Stade Gerland however reports yesterday appeared to indicate that Ben Arfa would be happy signing a new deal for the French giants. Ben Arfa, born in Paris of Tunisian descent, has played for Lyon since he

Real Madrid midfielder Mahamadou Diarra is looking increasingly likely to join Inter Milan in the summer, according to the Corriere dello Sport. The Mali international has been tipped to leave Madrid for quite sometime now due to his frosty relationship with Coach Bernd Schuster. Things took another turn for the worse yesterday when it was revealed that Diarra had been fined €300,000, a month's wages, for returning to Spain late from the African Cup of Nations. With Schuster seemingly set to exclude him from his team for tonight's match with Recreativo, despite injuries to Guti and Wesley Sneijder, an end of season exit is looking inevitable. Inter have identified the signing of a top-class centre midfielder as their priority in this summer's transfer market, and Roberto Mancini's first-choice is Diarra. Yesterday the player's agent, Frederic Guerra, admitted that a move to Inter was very possible."Milan, Liverpool and Juve have all called, but the team that in

Boca Juniors playmaker Juan Román Riquelme has stated that he never considered another life outside of football and that if he was reborn he would still want to come back as himself. Speaking after filming an advert for Adidas, Riquelme made it clear that football was the only route in life he ever considered and that he loves playing the game for living. "This is what I dreamed of from when I was very small... it enchants me to live this life, it is wonderful and it has given me more than I could ever have hoped. For that reason if I could return to my birth I would still be Riquelme," he told Olé. Although he always dreamed of playing football, Riquelme insisted that the fame that comes with it was never his primary motivation. "No, it took a while for me to get used to people praising my ability. I know that I bring something unique to the football pitch when I play the game and that brings attention. In the time I have been a football player I avoided seeking out att

Arsenal striker Eduardo da Silva has surprisingly revealed he does not remember the incident in which he broke his leg very well, and declared he never wants to see it on TV or in the newspapers... The striker, who celebrates his 25th birthday on Monday, suffered the injury just three minutes into Arsenal's Premier League game against Birmingham, following a challenge from Martin Taylor, who was sent off for the offense. The players' reaction was one of absolute shock, as the game was frantic following the eight minute stoppage that was required to remove the player from the field. The match ended in a disappointing draw for Arsenal, who let Manchester United back into the title race as a plucky Birmingham side forced men forward and won a last-minute penalty to pull it back to 2-2 for Birmingham. However, all thoughts were with Eduardo during and after the game, and speaking to the club's official website, he has revealed that he barely remembers the incident, possibly due