Former Chelsea striker Tony Cascarino believes Robert Pires enjoyed the best years of his career during his six-year spell at Arsenal.
Signed from French club Marseille in July 2000 for a fee of around £6million, the former France international would go on to be one of the Gunners' best players in recent years.
During his six years with the north London club, the Frenchman won two Premier League titles, including being part of Arsenal's Invincibles squad that won the title in 2004 under Arsene Wenger.
But prior to his move to England, the 46-year-old had struggled to make an impact at Marseille, according to Cascarino, who played against Pires when the latter was playing for Metz.
"I played against him at Metz and knew he was a real talent," Cascarino told talkSPORT. "He had done really well but he was a young lad.
"Then he goes to Marseille and he has a really indifferent time at Marseille.
"Everyone was talking about [Eric] Cantona in France and all of the problems he had, but Robert Pires had a lot of problems at Marseille in his second year; the fans were on his back and it was a really controversial period in French football.
"He was only there for two years and he didn't play well for Marseille. He had a bit of a stinker, certainly in the second season when they just about survived relegation.
"Arsene Wenger [then] brings him to Arsenal and he replaces Marc Overmars, who was going to Barcelona, and he was one hell of a player.
"He came in and did six years at Arsenal, and he was brilliant.
"As much as I have spoken about Thierry Henry and Patrick Viera being great players, Pires, I felt, played his best football at Arsenal by a country mile in those six years. I thought he was outstanding."
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