Samir Nasri became a City player when his transfer from Arsenal was completed on 24 August 2011.Born and brought up in Marseille, Samir joined his hometown team at the age of nine and rose through their youth system before making his senior debut aged 17.
His relatively tender years were no barrier to Samir and he quickly established himself in the Marseille first team, playing in a central role behind two strikers.He was named as Ligue 1’s Young Player of the Year for 2006/07, and he made his senior international debut against Austria in March 2007 after playing for France at a succession of youth levels.
His rapid progress made it inevitable that major clubs around Europe would look in Samir’s direction, and he joined Arsenal in the summer of 2008 after appearing for France at that year’s European Championships.
Adapting to the rigours of English football proved to be no problem, and Samir made a fine start to his career at the Emirates Stadium when he scored on his Barclays Premier League debut, against West Brom in Arsenal’s opening match of the 2008/09 season.
His first year in England saw him make 44 appearances, with seven goals, but a broken leg sustained in pre-season forced him to the sidelines for the start of the following campaign.He nevertheless bounced back from this blow to make over 30 appearances once fully fit, including a further five goals.
The upward curve of his career continued into 2010/11, where he bagged 15 goals in all competitions and underlined his status as one of Arsenal’s major creative threats.Equally capable either out wide or in the middle, Samir was named as the French Player of the Year for 2010. |
