The National's Sport cover for the Saturday, June 13 issue, featuring Gervinho, as the Ivory Coast star and former Arsenal and AS Roma man is set to bring his electric game to Abu Dhabi.
Al Jazira are set to bring the 28-year-old to the UAE capital to infuse a team that already led the Arabian Gulf League in goals last season with his electric game.
Ian Hawkey profiles the Ivorian named Gervais Yao Kouassi who became better known by a Brazilian-style game and nickname. Gervinho, he writes, "had not been long enrolled at the Asec Mimosas academy in Abidjan when his dribbling, his feints and his shimmies identified something a little Brazilian in him.
“So Gervais became ‘Gervinho’, a West African version of a Ronaldinho or, more accurately, of an enigmatic Robinho.
“With Gervinho at full pelt, Roma started their Serie A campaigns at a gallop – then they faded.
“The same could be said of Gervinho’s level of performance in the season just completed.
“Jazira have not signed a player at the peak of his form. Gervinho needs to be given licence to thrill and to hear from those around him reminders that what he has is special, that he is not a luxury adornment but something fundamentally important to his team.”
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