Many in England remember the Ivorian as a
failure, but his early form in Italy suggests Rudi
Garcia knows what he's doing with his ex-Lille
charge
COMMENT
By Kris Voakes
In January, Gervinho told Goal that he wanted to
become Arsenal’s greatest ever signing. By July he was
gone, destined to be remembered by most Premier
League fans as the latest in a long list of players that
simply never quite did it for the Gunners.
He famously suffered from self-doubt at Arsenal, with
manager Arsene Wenger regularly suggesting the 26-
year-old’s questionable form in front of goal was down
to a lack of confidence. But it appeared that the more
the problem was highlighted, the less likely it was to
ever disappear. Wenger had shown a lack of
understanding in how to best deal with Gervinho and, as
a result, had lost any hope of getting the best out of
him.
But now Gervinho is a man reborn.
Three goals in Serie A, including two in last Sunday’s
5-0 trouncing of Bologna, have helped his new Roma
side to maintain a 100 per cent record over their first
six matches. A small sample size though it might be,
there can be no doubting that Gervinho’s run of
excellent form on the wing and the sight of Rudi Garcia
on the Giallorossi bench are interlinked.
Suddenly, the man who couldn’t hit a barn door with a
banjo in Arsenal colours can seemingly do no wrong in
Rome. From pilloried to praised in the space of a few
short months, the Ivorian personifies Rudi’s Roma thus
far. Where once there was a lack of belief, now there is
hope for better things ahead. While nobody is getting
giddy with title talk - nor even whispers of a return to
the Champions League - there is a very real sense that
the Frenchman is steering the wagon back onto the
tracks.
And in Gervinho he has a player he has got the best out
of before - on more than one occasion. Having first
brought him into French football as a 20-year-old at Le
Mans in 2007, Garcia made the Ivorian a key part of his
project in Lille as les Dogues clinched their first Ligue
1 championship in 57 years.
During those two spells with Garcia, Gervinho had
clearly progressed as a player and as an asset. An
anaemic goalscoring record in his formative days at Le
Mans had been cultivated into a glowing one at the
Stade Metropole; in two seasons at LOSC, he netted 28
goals. If Arsenal fans were eventually left wondering
what the appeal had been in the first place, that was it.
At Lille, Gervinho was a winger with an eye for goal who
tapered perfectly with Eden Hazard. More than that, he
was a footballer in his element. Entrusted with the job
of getting at opposition defenders, and injected with the
full confidence of a coach who seemed to know exactly
what he was capable of, he delivered on a regular basis.
And now that he has been reunited with his master, the
apprentice looks like that same thrilling wide man once
more.
There is no such thing as a certainty in football, but if
anyone can get the best out of Gervinho it is Rudi
Garcia. And high-flying Roma could yet reap further
benefits from the pair having been reunited at Trigoria.
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