Nasri on his way to City

Nasri arrives for Arsenal training on Tuesday before travelling to Manchester [GALLO/GETTY]

Arsenal have agreed to sell French midfielder Samir Nasri to their English Premier League rivals Manchester City.
 
Nasri was left out of the Arsenal squad travelling to Italy for Wednesday’s European Champions league playoff second leg against Udinese.

“Arsenal can confirm that they have agreed terms for Samir Nasri to move to Manchester City,” Arsenal said in a statement on their website, adding that Nasri was on his way to Manchester for a medical on Tuesday afternoon.

Nasri is set to become the second key Arsenal player to leave the club this month after Barcelona signed captain Cesc Fabregas for a reported fee of about $56.9 million.

City had already laid out about 50 million pounds in this month’s transfer window on Argentina forward Sergio Aguero, French left-back Gael Clichy – also bought from Arsenal – and Montenegro defender Stefan Savic.

Since being taken over by the Abu Dhabi United Group in August 2008, City have spent an unprecedented amount for British football on buying top players.

In 2009, they bought Carlos Tevez, Gareth Barry and Emmanuel Adebayor.

During the August 2010 transfer window their outlay was around 130 million on players such as Yaya Toure, David Silva and Mario Balotelli.

Under Roberto Mancini, who took over as manager in late 2009, City finished third in the Premier League last season, one place above Arsenal.

City also won the FA Cup, their first major trophy in 35 years.
 
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is under increasing pressure from fans to buy a big-name player to replace Fabregas and Nasri, and to end the club’s six-year trophy drought.

Arsenal lead Udinese 1-0 after the first leg of their Champions League playoff. City qualified directly for the group stages of the competition.