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Tevez to Arsenal in a Straight Swap for Nasri?

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In a piece of stunning (and very unconfirmed) news, Terry Christian is reporting that a deal is officially done sending Carlos Tevez to Arsenal and Samir Nasri to Manchester City in a straight swap. City would apparently pay half of Tevez's wages for this season as part of the deal.

It's tough to figure the legitimacy of the news. At first glance, it seems like rubbish, and the rest of the media is quiet on it. I am unfamiliar with Christian, but he does apparently do presenting work for Manchester United and is Manchester based, so it's not unfathomable that he could be the source of such news. He decided to present the news so strongly that it "completed," so for the fun of the exercise let's treat it as truth for now.

Does the deal make sense? Absolutely. People will ask why Tevez would be sold cut rate, but the answer is clear. With his ridiculous wages, depth of some of Europe's richest clubs at forward, and headache in the dressing room, Tevez wasn't getting a ton of attention as a potential buy. The one thing Manchester City lacks the most is a creative presence in the center of the pitch, and nobody will do that role better than Nasri. City doesn't care about the fee for Tevez, getting back a player that can help them win the title this season is most important.

For Arsenal, the deal is completely logical. Robin van Persie has been their only consistently scoring forward in recent years, and his injury troubles make him a liability. Tevez immediately transforms their attack into one of the league's best. And with the likes of Jack Wilshire and Aaron Ramsey ready to take the reigns from Fabregas and Nasri in the center of the pitch, losing Nasri is much more tolerable.

So for now, let's pretend landmark move has taken place in the Premiership. Do you think it's real? And what does it do to both clubs if it is?