Former Arsenal youngster Nacer Barazite believes that he didn’t get a “fair chance” during his time at the club, he has revealed in an exclusive interview.
The Dutchman, who signed as a 16 year old from NEC Nijmegen, impressed at youth and reserve level for the Gunners but failed to make a single league appearance before leaving for Austria Wien in January 2011.
It was there that he made the most of his obvious talent, scoring a remarkable 11 goals in just a dozen Europa League matches; a run of form that soon earned him a €3m move to AS Monaco at the turn of the year.
Often the star of a reserve side that featured Wojciech Szczesny, Jack Wilshere and Kieran Gibbs, Barazite was tipped by many to break into the first team but he was restricted to just a handful of League Cup appearances before his departure, something that still puzzles him.
“To be honest I do believe I wasn’t given a fair chance to break through into the first team,” he said. “Because I made my debut in the Carling Cup and then two weeks later I got a chance to play against Blackburn in the quarter finals where I did quite well but I got an injury in that game.
“And after that I wasn’t given proper opportunities which other young players did get, who I believe did not perform as well as I did, for example, when I went on loan to Derby County.
“So if the question is ‘do I believe I got an honest chance?’, then I would say I do not believe I got an honest chance but that’s football – sometimes you don’t get there and you have to move on.”
Speaking about his former team mates’ success, Barazite did reserve special praise for Kieran Gibbs’ rapid development.
“At the time I came [to Arsenal] Gibbs was not really a player who was standing out from all the others, who was well known by everyone, but suddenly he started playing very well and he got his opportunity and he took it.
“For example he went on loan to Norwich City and he didn’t perform very, very well but he did enough. He came back and he got his chance anyway and he took it very well and now he’s performing great so that’s another situation: where you can do very well on loan, for example, and not get a chance but the opposite is also possible.”
While Gibbs’ progress may have been doubted by some at the club, two other Academy graduates’ career paths have come as far less of a shock to Barazite.
“If you look at Jack Wilshere and Wojciech Szczesny, they are players who were standing out already in the youth sides and you could see, yes, they were big prospects and their potential came out.”
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Nacer Barazite was speaking to Morgan Lake. You can follow him on Twitter @MorganL91.
Bitterarazite.
“So if the question is ‘do I believe I got an honest chance?’, then I would say I do not believe I got an honest chance but that’s football – sometimes you don’t get there and you have to move on.”
Yeah, really bitter.
Blogs: Possibly Sean was commenting on the picture of Barazite you chose to display, or perhaps on the head you wrote.
“he [Gibbs] went on loan to Norwich City and he didn’t perform very, very well but he did enough. He came back and he got his chance anyway and he took it very well and now he’s performing great so that’s another situation”.
Implication there being Gibbs didn’t do well on loan but was given a chance anyway, whereas Nacer wasn’t
He arguably has every right to be bitter, putting in a he did some really good performances for the Reserves. To claim he isn’t bitter though goes somewhat against his comments and the title of this article Blogs…
His attitude is better than Chamakh’s
How do you figure that?
He doesn’t get angry while playing tiddlywinks?
Poor Nacar but I am afraid I find it hard to believe anyone showing amazing attitude and qualities wouldn’t be given a fair enough chance at our club. That said maybe he could of taken denilsons place in the squad occasionally.
It does happen. Sometimes players get missed. It’s a bit naive to think that everyone who works hard and does the right thing gets the same opportunities. Not to say that he did those things because I have no idea.
But at least now he’s got Arsenal DNA.
We can always claim him back if he goes on to become a super star!
I don’t follow youth football but it probably would’ve been better if he’d trusted the man known for developing youth.
Chances are, he would still be behind the likes of wilshere ramsey and arteta in the pecking order, he has done the right thing for himself, obviously its a shame for us to lose any talented player like him but for the sake of his own career he seems to have made the right choice and is justifying it with some exceptional performances.
If I remember correctly (and admittedly it’s been a while), he was a winger, so he’d now be competing with Theo/Gerv/Poldi/The Ox. Might still be struggling for games, but with the form he’s showed since leaving, he might have done a decent job for us at times last season.
Not every youngster is going to make it at Arsenal. Good luck and good bye!
I can’t fault a guy who has ambition. Ambition drives, and although he was not right for us at the time, I hope he does well (in another league). It is pretty irrelevant whether he should have been given more chances than he did. He didn’t, and that’s the way it is, but the fact that he was unhappy and did not want to just sit warming a bench collecting his weekly wage, is a great thing. I can only hope that every man in our squad will have the same desire to turn out for The Arsenal week in… Read more »
I think Nacer will thank Wenger for letting him go some time in the future because he may not have got his chance to shine at Arsenal. He’s clearly talented and got the education he needed at Arsenal. Good Luck Lad.
I thought he looked good whenever he played. Obviously there was something the manager didn’t like. Shame.
You take chances, they don’t come to you on a silver platter. Given a good run of games, you go out there and prove yourself. If you then don’t do well enough and you proceed to the bench. Sounds fair enough.
chamakh should know.
The point is that players like walcott and denilson were allowed to play very poorly for at least 2 years while players like barazite, vela and merida were’t given that “run of games”, despite playing well when given the opportunity.
oh please you can’t put theo in that list.
people write off theo easily i really hopes he proves some people wrong next season.we think he plays badly because he’s one of those players for whom we set the bar very high.but,wenger always maintained theo is on the right track and i also believe the same.also,i don’t like this special treatment given to ox at the cost of theo’s place.theo has been our boy for a while now(100+appearances) and when theo and ox are both in form we should always expect theo to start infront of ox.
Hate to say it, but he’s absolutely right. He was the star of our youth/reserve side for many years. Sure, he didn’t have the best of times at Derby but that was down to Derby being shit. I know I was not the only one surprised that he was let go without getting a real opportunity to prove himself. People always complain that we sign too many young foreigners and favour them over the English youth but the truth is the English youth are given far more opportunities to prove themselves at the highest level before getting let go. This… Read more »
Yeah, tend to agree with ya man.
This was a player I always liked and was always highly hopeful of. Unfortunately he like many others who I had high hopes for (Fran Merida, Aliadiere, Arturo Lupoli and Jay Emmanuel Thomas) to name a few never quite made the grade due to various reason….However as Barazite say’s, that’s football and you have to move on!!
I wish him all the best though and he doesn’t seem bitter to me at all
I would like him better if his name was Nascar. That’d be cool.
Nascar is definitely not cool.
The 1st time I saw him was when he scored a belter in our pre-season game at Barnet & I thought we had unearthed another gem.
Surprised that he didn’t make it with us cos the guy had genuine talent.
All the best Nacer & who knows in the future we might re-sign you!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KilMQSU03w
^ This one? or the other one in 2007 where the keeper made an error (he scored against Barnet in pre-season friendlies more than once I believe)
Nice to see that not all former players have to slag off the club. Nasri could learn from this, considering he was given a chance at this club and decided to leave for personal gain rather than not making the grade he has some cheek to criticise the fans and club. it would be nice if more players were so level headed and understood just to get on with things rather than just moan!
He was injured all the time if memory serves me. I live in Austria and he was head and shoulders above the players here, not that hard to do mind you. I spoke to the marketing manager at Austria Wien and he said that he arranged his meetings around training sessions just so he could see Nacer train, quite the compliment bearing in mind the harsh winters here. He had Cesc and Jack in front of him so he was never going to get the chance.
Sometimes it’s just a case of playing in a position where you have lots of competition, and other less talented players make the breakthrough because they play in a position where there is little or no competition.
There is suppose to be clause when selling this players like what barca does,it would help in the future cos i dont think its fair on us training them without reaping the benefits
Buying players from barca is like is like saying save this boot for now you’l give it to me in the future and place it far up my arse.
I think they have a list such that every player they sold from their academy has to be brought back. They’l step on you, trample on you but whatever the cost- they have to get him back. (Wenger knows)
Gerrard pique
Fabregas
Jordi alba
All check.
Thats why the entire barca prodigy holds a place in my cunt list.
Go out and prove wenger wrong. who knows if u are that good we may even try and buy u back. somehow i doubt it.
Nacer has the Arsenal “DNA”
AVB in at spuds
hilarity must surely ensue
praise be to the football gods, i think this one might be the most entertaining since the nutter with the tube ticket whatever he was called
I wouldn’t laugh yet, Sam. AVB is not a rubbish manager. He was handed a poisoned chalice at Stamford Bridge and duly failed. He was not the man to take on a bunch of massive over-aged egos. But Spurs is a different matter. If he gets it right then he could turn them into a decent side.
The good thing for us is that the likes of Modric and Van der Fart will probably leave, and with their tight wage policy Spurs are unlikely to bring in quality players to replace them.
Seeing this does sadden me. I remember watching him in the reserves when he bended one in and I thought he could be great. He is one of the few youngsters that I was really disappointed when he left (sit down Fran Merida). I hope he finds success, top notch young lad.
That little bit harder for forwards to come up through the ranks than defenders…..I bet Lansbury will have similar things to say very soon!
Playing well and playing the way the boss wants are two different things. I never saw any of his play or footage of him but was he a selfish player? Was he more interested in the name on the back of the jersey or the front? Obviously Arsenal rely heavily on team play so if he’s more of an Arjen Robben type then obviously he wasn’t favored. Again, I never saw any of him, I’m just giving an example as to why he may have been overlooked. As for all our youth products I hope he does well in the… Read more »
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Fair play to him have to agree somewhat he was never given much of a shot in the first team. He was shown the door and it’s probably best for his career. Players on the other hand that rejected contract offers from us to move on like Merida lupoli Hah!
will welcome him back in the near future,was once wanted by man united.
Barazite has Arsenal DNA…. Can’t wait to drum it into some poor bastards ears in 2 years. Come on Nacer
Not quite related, but… Did you guys hear? Villas-Boas is now manager of Tottenham. Next season looks bright for us Gooners indeed! 😀
Nothing like being able to kick the Spuds when they’re already down!
I’m not so sure it’s something we should celebrate. He’s a very good manager who didn’t do well at Chelski.
Is that something to celebrate? He might do alright with a team who aren’t all a bunch of bells.
Agree he didnt get many chances if you look at Denilson, Walcott etc but thats football he needs to focus on his future f**k what happened in the past
Me lady: Your hand is on my leg
Me: no, your hand is on my leg
Me lady: no it really isn’t.
Classic ‘thats what she said’ eh?
You see, he was always going to become a decent enough player, but never good enough to start for Arsenal. Perhaps he should have gotten a better chance, but at the end of the day it’s not like we’re missing out on the next Messi or even the next Gibbs.
He could well become a player on the level of Pennant or Bentley – but we didn’t miss out on a whole lot there, did we?