And for a vast majority they thought he would go on to be just as good, there was no issue in the fans mind about him as a replacement. Nasri was also an adeuqate replecement for Hleb.
It's just lazy to throw a blanket statement out that he never replaces quality with similar. Gervinho would be a good replacement for Nasri - there is no one in this league that we could buy to come in and hit the ground running. The hype of Nasri is just that, so far he has shown flashes and 6 months, hardly world class.