Sport

Birds of a feather: Manchester City’s Samir Nasri believes Manuel Pellegrini and Arsene Wenger are two of a kind

By Marios Papaloizou

Manchester City’s attacking midfielder Samir Nasri has spoken highly of his new boss Manuel Pellegrini – comparing the Chilean to Arsenal’s cerebral manager Arsene Wenger.

The Frenchman moved to City from Arsenal in 2011 and the arrival of Pellegrini this summer has given Nasri a trip down memory lane.

Speaking to Sky Sports, the player praised the psychological approach of the former Malaga manager.

“For the moment it’s pretty good,” he said.  “He’s someone who talks with the players, so it’s always good for the player to know exactly what he’s doing; if it’s good or if it’s wrong.

“What I like about him is he talks about everything outside football; how you are in your life and stuff and it’s pretty important for a manager to understand these things, like a psychologist, it’s good.

“He’s a little bit like Arsene Wenger in the way he works. Same kind of training, same attitude as well.”

Nasri also appreciates Pellegrini’s attention to detail as the manager seeks perfection ahead of the new season.

“What’s different between him and other managers I’ve worked with is he’s very present in training,” said Nasri.

“He’s not scared to stop the training when something is wrong.”

As well as the change in management at the Eastlands club, Manchester City have also been busy in the transfer market.

The club have made four major signings so far taking their spending to a whopping £90million.

Nasri believes that the signings will have no problem settling in to life at the Blues.

“[Fernandinho] is a really good player, a little bit shy because he doesn’t speak very good English but he’s a top player who is going to bring something different to the team,” said Nasri.

“Negredo we saw a little bit of what he’s capable of against South China. He’s a top quality player, a good striker.

“For him it’s going to be easier to adapt to the squad, him and Jesus [Navas], because we have a lot of Spanish players.

“Jovetic, I’ve just trained two times with him. It’s going to be easy for him to adapt to the squad because he’s a good player and the way he wants to play is exactly the way we like to play.”

Image courtesy of mcfcofficial, via YouTube, with thanks. 

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