Manchester City midfielder Samir Nasri has launched a stinging attack on critics of Raheem Sterling and has labelled fans who booed his new teammate as “stupid”.
Sterling’s switch to the Etihad Stadium was completed at the beginning of last week as City finally signed the player from Premier League rivals Liverpool for a reported fee of £49million [via Independent Sport] after seeing two bids rejected earlier in the summer.
The move has not gone down too well with many connected with the Merseyside outfit as club legends Jamie Carragher and Phil Thompson questioned whether the England international is worth the huge transfer fee [via Sky Sports].
Then on Sterling’s first appearance in City colours against Serie A giants AS Roma on Tuesday morning he was booed by a section of supporters in Melbourne as his fell over in the opening stages of the game.
Nasri, who has been on the receiving end of criticism from supporters since his exit from Arsenal, has blasted Sterling’s critics and told them to respect the 20-year-old decisions:
“You always have stupid fans in the stadium. The same thing happened to me when I left Arsenal,” the Frenchman said [via Mirror Sport]
“You have to move on. He has come to Manchester City and you have to respect his decision.”
“We just have to let him play and he will show how talented he is. He has speed and goals and he’s one of the hottest prospects in world football,” Nasri added.
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Sterling went on to silence some of his doubters as he opened the scoring for last season’s Premier League runners-up with a cool finish after just three minutes.