Samir Nasri nears Arsenal exit as Chelsea join Manchester United and Manchester City in hunt for midfielder

Chelsea have now joined Manchester United and Manchester City in the chase for the France international.

Nasri is due to discuss his future with Wenger after the Arsenal players return to training this week ahead of their pre-season tour of the Far East.

Talks over a new, five-year deal worth £90,000 a week halted abruptly last month.

As well as negotiations over his salary – Nasri is believed to want as much as £110,000 a week – the former Marseille player wants reassurances that Wenger intends to strengthen Arsenal’s squad in an attempt to end the club’s six-year wait for a trophy.

Yet his manager’s progress in the transfer market thus far has been laborious.

If reports from Spain that Cesc Fabregas’s £38 million move to Barcelona may be finalised as soon as Monday do not impress Nasri, then Wenger’s admission that it may take more than three weeks before he can begin to bolster his playing resources will worry him further.

“I am very active on the phone,” the Arsenal manager told a French radio station this week.

“Everyone is in a standby position, where everyone is waiting for the first step, expecting a super-transfer.

"It will move in late July and early August. Then we will analyse the gaps in each team.”

That, though, may be too late for Wenger to keep hold of Nasri, with United in particular determined to wrest the 24-year-old from north London before both clubs leave on tour in 10 days’ time.

Sir Alex Ferguson, the United manager, could lodge his opening offer, of around £15 million, this week.

City will only consider Nasri once they have definitively lost out in their attempts to sign Alexis Sanchez from Udinese, while Chelsea are keeping a watching brief on the situation.

Their new manager, Andre Villas-Boas, would prefer to sign Portuguese international Joao Moutinho from Porto, while he is also tracking Marseille’s Lucho Gonzalez.

Wenger’s hopes of parading a number of new signings to assuage Nasri’s fears by the time any suitors make their first bid, though, are diminishing.

Bolton have rejected the possibility of using Nicklas Bendtner as a makeweight in a deal to take Gary Cahill to the Emirates, and Wenger must now hope either Henri Lansbury or the defender, Ignasi Miquel, tempt Owen Coyle to accept an offer.

Everton, home of two potential recruits, the England pair of England duo Phil Jagielka and Leighton Baines, are yet to receive an offer for either, and will likely fight strenuously to retain both. Arsenal are yet to lodge a bid for the Blackburn captain Chris Samba.

In attack, too, Wenger’s progress is halting. Valencia will not reduce their valuation of Juan Mata, the Spain international, from £22 million and Southampton yesterday denied Arsenal had even made a formal offer for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, despite suggestions the player was in talks with the Premier League club.

The 17-year-old is, though, expected to move to the Emirates eventually.

Wenger can, at least, claim imminent victories in his attempts to sign Gervinho, from Lille, and Velez Sarsfield’s Ricardo Alvarez. “There are only a few details to sort out,” said the player of his £11 million move. “It won’t be long. I am going to play, not be on the bench. Arsenal love to play, and I love teams that love to play.”

Wenger is also believed to be considering an offer for Birmingham’s Scott Dann. There too, though, the Frenchman may face disappointment.

Villas-Boas is keen to recruit a young, English defender as cover for David Luiz and John Terry, and has identified Dann and Cahill as two candidates.