Part of the clue is in the nickname.
Gervais Yao Kouassi 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.
He was barely more than a child at the time, not even a teenager, and the sobriquet gave Gervinho the sort of honour that many distinguished students of Asec’s fabled nursery in Ivory Coast’s principal city would never be granted.
Neither Yaya nor Kolo Toure were ever called “Kolinho”, or “Yayazinho”. When their Asec contemporary and fellow future stalwart of the Ivorian national side, Didier Zokora, got his schoolboy nickname it was simply “Maestro”.
In his native Ivory Coast, Gervinho has always been regarded as a special, distinctive talent.
In committing such a substantial investment – in fees and salary – to clinching a deal for his services, with the medical to take place this month, Arabian Gulf League side Al Jazira follow some distinguished European clubs.
Typically those clubs have been ones who cherish the type of flair a confident, buoyant Gervinho supplies, cutting in from the wings, taking on and tantalising opponents one-on-one.
Gervinho has been at Premier League side Arsenal and comes to the squad who outscored every other in last season’s Arabian Gulf League from Roma in Serie A, where his departure is regarded with mixed emotions.
For much of his two-year spell in Italy, Gervinho was an electric, thrilling focus for a team who could be brilliant on the counter-attack.
Under the French coach Rudi Garcia, Roma had established certain trademark patterns and some of them were good.
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, although this weekend he will be on international duty with Ivory Coast, an environment that has often proved a soothing oasis for Gervinho when he has suffered dips with his club teams.
He won the Africa Cup of Nations with his compatriots in January, a relief for he and his teammates after the many years of coming close but not quite seizing the title.
Gervinho experienced the agonies of those Ivorian near misses directly.
He missed a penalty in the shootout against Zambia in the final of the 2012 tournament.
He also received a red card after lashing out against provocative attentions from Guinea defenders in the group phase of this year’s competition.
The images of a distraught, out-of-control Gervinho after his sending off were not edifying.
To his credit, he cooled down and came back from his subsequent suspension to score goals in the competition’s quarter-final and semi-final stages.
Returning to Rome after the Nations Cup, his form went into a trough.
In the 10 Serie A matches he played for a Roma who was falling away from the title race and then had to scrap their way to an eventual runners-up position, he contributed no goals and one assist.
Compare that with his first season-and-a-half at Roma – 19 goals, 17 assists – and you have the explanation of why the Italians weighed up Jazira’s offer carefully and decided to say goodbye to a footballer who had enjoyed great popularity with supporters.
Roma certainly lifted Gervinho from the marginalised, frustrating figure he had become at the end of his two-year stint with Arsenal.
Garcia, who had coached the player at Lille, helped that process by encouraging Gervinho to be daring and exploit his speed and range of tricks.
“He does make the wrong decisions sometimes,” Garcia said of him, “but you want him there.
“The chances he creates are the sort that don’t come about without him.”
In other words, 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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