Not very dench.
Emmanuel Frimpong. Remember him? Combative defensive midfielder – he of ‘Dench’ fame. He was a limited footballer, but he is Arsenal to the core; He even joined a team in Russia called Arsenal Tula. Frimpong epitomised a mediocre, underachieving Arsenal team in the prime of their ‘banter era’, which some would argue has not ended.
While he might have spent more time with Lethal Bizzle in the recording studio than he did at training, but Frimpong would claim there was another player in the squad with a more unprofessional attitude than him: Samir Nasri. A vastly talented footballer, it has always felt that Nasri never quite fulfilled his potential, which can only be put down to him lacking the necessary mentality.
In an interview with the Telegraph, Frimpong explained:
“The reason I don’t like him is because he’s an idiot, plain and simple. I would never ever have respect for him.”
Frimpong and Nasri must have really disliked each other, given that their respective first team careers at Arsenal only overlapped by a couple of weeks, in August 2011, before Samir Nasri moved to Manchester City.
The rivalry continued – when Arsenal played City in the League Cup shortly after Nasri has signed for the latter, Frimpong targeted Nasri and the Frenchman wasn’t having it. They clashed in the tunnel after the game and evidently, Frimpong has held a grudge ever since.
