English Premier League Player Profile: Samir Nasri
Samir Nasri, who currently plays for Arsenal, was born in Marseille France. He has been compared to the great Zinedine Zidane because he shares his Algerian heritage with the legendary French midfielder. Like Zidane, Nasri also belongs to Algeria but was born in France; similarly the young midfielder also plays for the French international team just like Zidane did.
Born on 26th of July, 1987, Nasri is a right footed player but is also quite good on his weak side i.e. the left foot. Nasri’s parents moved to France from Algeria and his father is from Constantine while his mother is from Biskra. Samir grew up in La Govette Peyret which is a northern suburb of Marseille. He played a lot of football in his childhood and allegedly used to play for his local gang team.
His parents entered into an agreement with Pennes Mirabeau F.C at the age of six. He famously claimed that if his tough upbringing has helped him play better football than his peers. He said, that if I can be brave enough to face a knife, I can be brave enough to face a tough tackle. He spent two years at Pennes but soon caught Olumpique de Marseille’s eye in 1996.
He entered Marseille’s youth setup when he was just nine years old but he played his first game in Ligue 1 during the 2004-2005 season at the age of 17, he started just 14 games and came on as a substitute in eleven during his first season at the club. He scored one goal during the above mentioned outings. In the 2005-2006 season, Nasri played in ten UEFA Cup games and also played in the Intertoto Cup. He scored one goal in the single match he played in the Intertoto cup.
In 2006-2007 season, the French youngster scored his first goal of the season of Ligue 1. The goal in question came during Marseille’s encounter against Sochaux Montbeliard, a match that Olumpique won by four goals to two. By winning the match, Marseille secured the fourth placed spot in Ligue 1. In doing so they also granted themselves a place in the UEFA Cup qualification rounds for the next season.
Nasri was part of the Marseille squad which lost in the French Cup final in 2006 against Paris Saint Germain. In 2007, Marseille and Nasri were again on the losing side in the same competition’s final match as they lost to Sochaux. On 20th of May, 2007 Nasri was named Ligue 1’s young player of the year ahead of future talents such as Karim Benzema, he was also voted as the best player at Marseille by club’s fans.
In the off-season, during the summer transfer window Arsenal signed Nasri from Marseille for around thirteen million pounds. They had to fight off interest from Real Madrid and Inter Milan in order to sign the French international. Nasri soon impressed in the English Premier league as he scored his first goal in the league against West Brom on 16th of August, 2008. Samir’s first goal in European competitions for Arsenal came during their third round UEFA Champions League qualification match against F.C Twente.
He also scored two goals for Arsenal in their 2-1 win over their English rivals, Manchester United. All in all, Nasri scored seven goals during his first season at Arsenal. The former-Marseille player also managed five assists during the same season. In the 2009-2010 season, Nasri missed the opening months due to a broken leg that he had sustained during the off-season. However, he made a good come back later on in the year as he scored during Arsenals 5-0 drubbing of Porto in their UEFA Champions League round of sixteen match.
Samir scored a total of five goals and five assists during the 2009-2010 season for Arsenal. Nasri is being touted already as one of the players to look out for especially for his club as the 2010-2009 season looks to get under way shortly. His passing, dribbling and off-the-ball movement is the primary reason for his success with Marseille and Arsenal.
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