by Nia Griffiths

Samir Nasri has been speaking to FourFourTwo and once again he’s been giving his current manager Manuel Pellegrini backhanded insults.

Loves a chin-wag, does young Samir. Loves one. Especially about his old club and manager. Although he does seem to have been directly asked about it this time, so I’ll allow it, I suppose.

When asked about whether the Manchester City midfielder was still in contact with Arsene Wenger, he said, “Yes, I speak to him. I’m close to Arsene Wenger, I’ve always said he is my football father, and I wouldn’t just say that.”

He didn’t stop there though. “He did a lot for me; he made me the player I am and is someone who’s been really important for my career. So I have a good relationship with him, he is someone I will always respect because he deserves it,” he continued, in slightly embarrassing fashion. “For me, he’s been the best manager I ever had in my career, so I have a lot of respect for him.”

What a treat for Wenger. I’m sure he’s thrilled at the news.

Nasri, who’s now appeared for City 162 times, scoring 25 goals, went on to then – somewhat bizarrely -compare his current manager to his old one. Again.

“Football wise it’s the same – they like to have a team with good professionalism, and an offensive team as well. So they have the same mentality, and they are both calm as well.

“The thing is with Pellegrini, you know exactly what he thinks about you. He passes you his message when he’s disappointed, and that’s really important in the relationship with a manager to talk about things, as you know exactly what he wants from you.”

I’m not entirely sure how these quotes go down with Pellegrini. He seems like a pretty calm, down-to-earth man, and does remind me of Wenger a little in his demeanor. Although I’m sure sometimes he wants his players to just button it.

I am sure, however, that there will be people who think I’m being harsh by calling Nasri’s quotes ‘embarrassing‘ and claim that he’s just showing respect to a man who helped him with his career. Correct, he did help him with his career… but where is he now? Collecting a hefty pay cheque from our rivials. That’s where Wenger’s help led him. That’s where all this respect led him.

It doesn’t help that I don’t ever believe Nasri’s intentions are pure and in that sense, I freely admit I’m incredibly biased. When he comes out with quotes like this it always sounds like he’s just trying to curry favour with someone. Although I’m not entirely sure who with considering he’s pretty much burnt any bridges left at Arsenal.

Whatever he’s doing, he’s wasting his breath.