Not many Gooners like Samir Nasri.

A habit of opening his mouth before engaging his brain, as well as his decision to jump ship for Manchester City, sees him occupy the same pages of Arsenal history as Ashley Cole, Emmanuel Adebayor and Robin van Persie, to name just a few.

Often his words are taken out of context but, sometimes, he actually says stupid stuff.

Not so with his latest interview, given to Sport magazine.

Having previously commented that Arsene Wenger and Manuel Pellegrini were similar managers, the Manchester City man was asked why it was working at City and not at Arsenal.

He was clear with his response

“It works at Arsenal. It has worked for years.

“It’s just that when they built the stadium they didn’t have the same budget that they used to, so they couldn’t have a competitive team.

“Wenger had to change his approach by buying young players. You need experience to win those kinds of trophies, and that’s the main difference – that’s it.

“When I talk about the same approach, I’m talking about how they deal with certain kinds of situations, how they deal with the player, or the group.”

To be honest, my own position on Nasri has softened significantly, helped, in no small part by Robin van Persie’s betrayal which put everything else into perceptive.

Nasri played until he was sold and threw no tantrums about it unlike some others (Cesc) and having won a couple of titles with City, his move could be said to have been vindicated, no matter how much that stings.

“Yeah it was like… you know, when you win the league it’s different.

“Saying it is one thing, but when you win it you know that all your hard work for the season has just been rewarded. All my career I’ve played in great teams – Marseille was a great team, Arsenal was a great thing, but we never won a trophy.

“With Manchester City, first year it happened and it was just a big relief.”

Samir Nasri
[appearances not updated since Arsenal travelled to City earlier in the season]