With Samir Nasri proving to be a world-class act this season, is it safe to say that Arsenal have finally found the new Robert Pires?
The 23-year-old has been without question Arsenal’s most consistent and valuable player so far this season. The Frenchman has been grabbing all the headlines in the past couple of weeks, and did so again after netting two wonderful goals against Fulham last Saturday to put the Gunners on top of the Premier League table.
Samir Nasri has made just 13 league appearances for Arsenal so far this season, in which he has managed to notch up 8 goals for the North London outfit, and we’re only just entering the Christmas period. The cultured midfielder is arguably the clubs finest dribbler, who possesses great creativity and is also a potent goal threat coming in from the left or direct from the centre. In the past, the Frenchman has been likened to former Gunner Legend Robert Pires by Wenger and fans a like, and it’s clear to see why the comparison has been made.
Robert Pires was an intricate part of Wenger’s side from the years of 2000-2006 and was also a left winger who bagged some goals in his time. Just like Samir Nasri, Robert Pires was a constant goal threat for the Gunners who demonstrated the same traits as the current Arsenal number 8 is showing these days. The 37-year-old (who currently plays for Aston Villa these days) was a wonderful distributor of the ball and a fine dribbler, as well as a contributor to a heap of Arsenal goals in his 6 year spell at the North London club.
Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp believes that Arsenal have finally replaced Robert Pires. The former Liverpool midfielder told the Daily Mail today of Nasri’s progress:
‘Nasri is coming on strong. Look at his two goals on Saturday and the balance it took for him to score them. Arsenal have finally replaced the 15 goals a season of Robert Pires in their team.’
Taking everything into account, it seems to me that Wenger has in fact found the successor to Robert Pires in Samir Nasri. However, I wouldn’t say the 23-year-old is in the same class as the former Gunner…not just yet. The creative midfielder is in fine form lately and is an exceptional talent. The way I see it, Nasri or ‘Nizu’ (as I like to call him) can only get better as the years go by. If he continues to improve and mature in the correct way, then without a doubt we could be looking at the next Robert Pires of Arsenal.
Click on the image below to get your free trial of Picklive – The most innovative football game since fantasy football
Follow me on Twitter – http://twitter.com/Gunnersphere
Visit and Join our Facebook page, click HERE to do so
‘Fans wanted’ – If you would like to write for Gunnersphere.com and get your views and opinions across, simply message me on Twitter
I think Nasri could be the next Pires, if he continues this process he cvould even end up being even better then Pires.
Nasri in my opinion has great balance, technique and skill, all the qualities which will make him one of the top players in the world.