“That’s pretty impossible for the rest of us” – ex-Arsenal forward Jeremie Aliadiere builds his perfect footballer | OneFootball

Ex-Arsenal forward Jeremie Aliadiere spoke to Squawka to build his perfect footballer from former teammates.

Squawka gave Aliadiere eight different attributes that we believe are all key to a footballer, and building a player in general. These are: left foot, right foot, heading, pace, strength, football brain, skills and mentality.

Aliadiere also reminisced about his best teammate, toughest opponent and one game he’d love to relive.

Left Foot: Robin van Persie

I would have to go with Robin van Persie. I think Robin’s left foot was mad. The shots I’ve seen him do, the curve he had. And he had that thing where he could pretend to shoot, and would cut in on his left foot. And you knew he had that, and he was doing it very often, but you always got caught into it. Every time he came in from the left hand side onto his left foot, you knew there was going to be a powerful curved shot. Crazy left foot, Robin.

Right Foot: Dennis Bergkamp

I will probably go with Dennis Bergkamp on the right foot. Dennis’ touch was something I’ve never seen anyone else do. All I’ve got to say is that goal at Newcastle, that little touch… People that say he didn’t mean it, they’ve obviously never seen him play, never trained with him.

I remember one day in training where, remember the Marco van Basten volley? Well, Dennis did it but from the corner flag. And when I say ‘corner flag’, he was at the corner flag. The ball came and we just thought he was going to control it. And he actually volleyed it and it went straight into the opposite top corner. And we all stopped training, and I promise you, everybody was clapping. There wasn’t anyone that didn’t clap. We were all clapping thinking, ‘how did he do that?’

Oh that’s a tough one. I can’t think of anyone straight away. But I would say, not from an attacking point of view, but Tony Adams for his defensive clearances and heading, and timing.

Pace: Thierry Henry

Thierry Henry. Thierry Henry all day long. I could think of Theo Walcott’s pure speed, but I think Thierry Henry in terms of speed with the ball was different. So different compared to anyone else. He could run super fast, at full pace, with the ball, carrying the ball. And that’s pretty impossible for the rest of us.

Strength: Sol Campbell

I would say Sol Campbell. In terms of strength he was very, very difficult to beat in physical one-on-ones, where you were just battling shoulder to shoulder. I think Sol was one one the strongest players I’ve played with and against.

Football Brain: Cesc Fabregas

I would pick Cesc Fabregas because of his vision, and how easily he read the game and played the right pass at the right time, was something very special. He was incredible. He was so clever, seeing the pass before he received the ball he already knew what he was going to do with it, the simplicity of it.

I knew with Cesc that I could make my run super early because he saw me before I even knew I was going to make the run! He had 360 vision, analysed everything that was going on.

Skills

Pure tricks? That’s hard, because I played in an era where players were playing more simple football compared to now. I feel now it’s all about taking the player on and tricks. So I’m struggling on this.

Mentality: Gilberto Silva

I loved Gilberto Silva’s mentality. Did everything for the team, very unselfish. The most unselfish role you could imagine, just being a central midfielder, doing all the dirty work and never caring about the praise. He did it for us, but also for Brazil, winning the World Cup. And to still be a very humble guy, very accessible. You could ask Gilberto Silva anything, he’d never say no. For me, that’s the best quality that you can have. Just be a team player, be unselfish, very down to earth and humble.

The best teammate I’ve ever had, I would say, is Patrick Vieira. I was 17 or 18, coming into the dressing room, and Patrick was the best leader, the best captain you could ever imagine in terms of looking after each individual. Your status didn’t matter, you could be the game winner, or you could be the guy on the bench that never comes on. He treated everybody the same way.

He looked after you, fought in your corner. If you needed extra tickets for the game, or anything. Being at the end of the queue, people might think ‘nah let’s give it to Thierry or Dennis, or those guys’. There was no difference with Patrick. And I completely admire that because I just feel that there’s such a hierarchy in football in terms of names, and it was never like this with Patrick. We were all a group, we were all the same. For me, the best teammate and best captain.

I’ve been asked that question a lot, and it’s always the same. (Nemanja) Vidic. He was just the nastiest player, in terms of kicking you, doing things that obviously now with VAR he might not get away with. Stepping on your toes, the ball’s on the other side of the pitch but he’d just pretend to come and run and kick you in the back. He’s just the toughest and the hardest defenders in terms of kicking, and physical stuff that I’ve played against.

Carling Cup, Liverpool away when we won 6-3. (Julio) Baptista scored four, I scored one and assisted three. It was just the perfect night, the perfect game. And, on top of it, doing it at Anfield against Liverpool was special. I think a lot of fans remember me for that game as well. They always talk to me about that game. And I think if it was in a different stadium, against a different team, not such a big name, it might not have affected so many people. But the fact that it was Liverpool did.

And Liverpool had their strong team as well, Steven Gerrard, (Jamie) Carragher, all of those guys were playing and we came with a very young team, and absolutely ran them ragged on the right. It just felt like everybody had that lucky night, where everything we did was going through, every pass was spot on. So if I could relive one day and one game, that’d definitely be the one I would love to play and relive again.