I think this debate is in reality less about footballers and more about football in general. Part of what makes (has made) the game so great is the identity of the clubs, the players and their fans; the passion; the tribalism and the endeavour. Whether a football player is traditionally a fan of the club he plays for - its inevitable that fans should expect him to play for the shirt in some degree while he is at the club. Its fine to point to 'model professionals' - but football players are human beings not robots, and without that pride in, and affinity with their team and their team mates then they are not going to perform to the best of their ability. We have all seen those players who give their heart and soul to their clubs - and what they mean to their teams and their fans.

You take that 'X-factor away, and the game loses something. And it is rapidly doing so. Talented players who are essentially playing for a pay packet, directed by agents who are interested only in snouting at the trough in a game bloated by money and greed. I don't particularly blame the likes of Nasri, who are after all only operating in the environment they are presented with - but I can well understand the antipathy that supporters feel towards players who come across as coolly professional rather than passionate about the club they play for.

And this is also why the likes of Citeh don't sit right with most football players. Its the calculating manner in which they are determined to use their financial muscle to buy their way to the top and the almost obscene amounts they are prepared to spend to get there. Its a matter of degree of course - there have always been the haves and the have nots, but there is a feeling that if football is reduced merely to a question of who has the biggest cheque book, the essence of what the game is about is lost.