SAMIR NASRI is a fascinating character. You will rarely find a footballer as intelligent as him, who knows everything about every player and every team in Europe, whose football IQ is way higher than most of his peers'. He has has an aura around him that often captivates his teammates and yet has been surrounded by controversy throughout his career.
Fans have loved or hated him. Managers have found him brilliant or divisive. He has had spats with the media regularly but has been great in interviews too. Since he was 12 and dubbed the next Zinedine Zidane down in Marseille where he was born, grew up and started his career, Nasri has always been in the headlines and the public eye. However, you could be forgiven if you had actually totally forgotten he still existed!
He disappeared because of a year doping ban after receiving an intravenous treatment in a Los Angeles clinic in December 2016 while at Sevilla on loan from Manchester City. The Frenchman has not played for almost a year now after leaving his latest club, Antalyaspor, in January 2018 once the ban was confirmed and he has not been allowed to train with a professional team during his ban either. This last point will be lifted next month and from January 1st, he will be eligible to play professional football again.
And he could be coming back in the Premier League. Indeed, he is on the verge of a move to West Ham. He will have to prove his fitness first before signing his six-month contract with the option of an extra year for the Londoners. This would be a big gamble for the Hammers although after losing Andrei Yarmolenko to a lengthy injury, they need another creative player. Nasri’s fitness has often been a problem in his career. At 31, it remains to be seen whether he can reach the fitness levels required to succeed in the Premier League.
He had some highs and lows with Marseille, Arsenal, Manchester City and France. Usually, it started well but ended badly. He looked to have resurrected his career for half a season at Sevilla before the LA incident. If he is fit, in right frame of mind, and wants to work hard for the team, he could be an asset as long as his fitness is right.
He would offer different options to Manuel Pellegrini: he can play wide, as a second striker, as a proper number 10 or even deeper in midfield like he did so well in Spain. However, if he does not settle and finds himself out of the side at the London Stadium, Nasri could prove more disturbing than anything else. He has missed playing at the top leve, so he should be hungry and full of energy. He should also want to prove wrong all people who have written him off.
West Ham could be another chapter in Nasri’s career. A career that should have undoubtedly been better, despite winning a couple of Premier League titles, one League Cup and 41 caps for his country.
The former Gunner is part of the incredible 1987 generation, the Golden generation as we call it in France, alongside Karim Benzema, Hatem Ben Arfa and Jeremy Menez all born that year like him. They were the future of French football, all broke some records of precocity at some point and were so hugely talented and destined to the top. Yet, it seems that some sort of curse prevented each of them to have an even better career.
Benzema is the most successful one by far but even in his case, his footballing journey has been marred by controversies, stories and arguments. Nasri is cut from the same cloth. He could have reached the very top – but he didn’t. With him, you never know what to expect. Between inconsistencies and controversies, he is capable of moments of pure brilliance too.
He is a real talent and very much his own man. It's now or never for Nasri. West Ham are throwing him a lifeline – he has the chance to become footballer again. Most importantly, he can show the world who the real Samir Nasri is. If it happens, he can’t mess it up. This really could be the last roll of the dice for him.
