Grimandi: Nasri only wanted to join Arsenal

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Arsenal scout and former player Gilles Grimandi has praised Samir Nasri for establishing himself as one of the world’s best players this season.
The midfielder arrived at the Emirates two seasons ago and took time to settle in, but is the club’s top scorer this campaign and a more consistent performer.
Grimandi saw Nasri play from a young age, and is not surprised to see him make it on the big stage, particularly at a club like Arsenal, where the style of play suits him best.
In an exclusive interview with the BBC, Grimandi said: “In France we had a special age group born in 1987, with Nasri, Karim Benzema, Hatem Ben Arfa, Loic Remy and Jeremy Menez. All of these players were special talents and they won the under-17 European Championship, so everyone knew them for a long, long time. It was the best group of young players we had for maybe 20 years.
“But Samir always had something that set him apart from the rest – an unbelievable love of football. When you genuinely love football this is what makes the difference.
“It was important for me to make sure Arsene knew about his intelligence, his character and his passion for football. These three things, allied to the talent he had, convinced me that he would be a successful signing.
“But the most important thing for Samir was meeting Arsene. It was Arsene who convinced Samir that he had everything it takes to become the best player in the world. He knew what he had, he knew everything, but when Arsene told him that ‘you can be the best player, you can score, you can go as far as you want’ that’s the point at which he realised what he was capable of and where he needed to go to achieve that.”
Grimandi said Nasri was a fan of Arsenal before joining the club, and that was the only place he ever wanted to go.
“He always liked Arsenal,” he added. “He likes the way we play and he knew he wanted to come here. He watched every Arsenal game on TV, in fact he watched every game they showed on TV, so he can speak about every player, he knows everyone. There are not so many players like this. Thierry Henry used to know every player and Samir is very similar.”