Although he was much revered whilst he was playing for Arsenal, Samir Nasri left north London on a sour note.
After making 125 appearances for Arsenal, Nasri decided that he would be better served leaving Arsene Wenger’s project behind in favour of Manchester City.
Perhaps that was a successful decision in Nasri’s eyes, he went on to win two Premier League titles under both Roberto Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini.
However, Nasri wasn’t forgiven by too many fans at the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal supporters felt as if the Frenchman had become a traitor, in a similar vein to Emmanuel Adebayor.
Fortunately, Nasri never ran the full length of the pitch to celebrate in front of the Arsenal fans, but he still remained fairly unpopular in N5.
Albert Sambi Lokonga says he has ‘great memories’ of Samir Nasri
That being said, Albert Sambi Lokonga has had some kind words to say about Nasri in a recent interview with Relevo.
Of course, Lokonga is on loan at Sevilla from Arsenal this season, a move that could be made permanent via a clause in the deal.
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Lokonga’s progress in La Liga has been hampered by a hamstring injury thus far, a familiar tale from his time at Luton Town, but the Belgian will now be targeting a run of fitness.
And when reflecting on the early days of his career at Anderlecht, before Lokonga joined Arsenal for £15m, the midfielder took time to reflect on briefly crossing paths with Nasri in the Frenchman’s twilight years.
Lokonga said: “He behaved very well with me. We had a good relationship. He was only there for one season, but he was there for me, he was like a brother.
“I could always go to him to ask for advice to learn a little more about football, decisions on the pitch, to be able to recover faster to play more games, he is someone who has been there for me.
“So yes, I only have great memories of the good Samir Nasri.”
Mikel Arteta has changed the culture at Arsenal
Of course, reflecting further on the circumstances that saw Nasri leave the club in 2011, that’s unlikely going to be a situation that repeats itself today.
Thanks to some of the hard work done by Wenger during Arsenal’s move to the Emirates Stadium, the club are now in a strong financial position.
And Arteta has also put Arsenal among the best in the world on the pitch too – not a project any player would want to leave.
Arsenal aren’t quite at the point where they can poach players from Man City themselves, the likes of Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus were free to leave at the time of signing.
But it’s still incredibly rewarding to consider how far Arsenal have come since selling Nasri.
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