Samir Nasri (France)

Samir Nasri

Nasri playing for Arsenal
Personal information
Full name	Samir Nasri[1]
Date of birth	26 June 1987 (1987-06-26) (age 23)
Place of birth	Marseille, France
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) [2]
Playing position	Attacking midfielder
Club information
Current club	Arsenal
Number	8
Youth career
1993–1996	Pennes Mirabeau
1996–2004	Marseille
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2004–2008	Marseille	121	(11)
2008–	Arsenal	55	(10)
National team‡
2002–2003	France U16	18	(8)
2003–2004	France U17	18	(8)
2004–2005	France U18	4	(0)
2005–2006	France U19	10	(5)
2006–2007	France U21	4	(0)
2007–	France	15	(2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17:27, 11 June 2010 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 15:00, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

Samir Nasri (born 26 June 1987) is a French professional footballer of Algerian heritage who plays for Arsenal in the Premier League and for the French national team.
A naturally right-footed player, also effective on his weaker side, Nasri plays as a winger for Arsenal; however, he has also been deployed in central midfield in the absence of Cesc Fàbregas due to injury. During his time at boyhood club Olympique de Marseille, Nasri's Algerian background, technical prowess and playmaking on the field earned him direct comparisons to French football great Zinedine Zidane – and the mantle of the 'new Zidane'.^[3]
Nasri was a regular for France at the youth level and was a member of the country's UEFA Euro 2008 squad, though he saw limited playing time. In a surprising move by French coach Raymond Domenech, he was left out of the 2010 French World Cup team.

Contents [hide] 1 Early life 2 Club career 2.1 Marseille 2.2 Arsenal 3 International career 4 Style of play 5 Personal life 6 Career statistics 6.1 Club 6.2 International goals 6.3 International 7 Honours 7.1 Marseille 7.2 International 7.3 Individual 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Early life

Nasri's parents moved to France from Algeria. His father is from Constantine and his mother is a native of Biskra. Nasri grew up in La Gavotte Peyret,^[4][5] a northern suburb of Marseille. He often played on the streets, where he learnt many of his skills. He allegedly used to play for the local "gang team". His parents signed him up to the football club Pennes Mirabeau at the age of six. Nasri himself has claimed that his tough upbringing actually helped him with his quest to play professional football, "if I can be brave enough to face a knife I am brave enough to face a tough tackler." He spent two seasons at Pennes before being scouted by Olympique de Marseille in 1996.^[6]

[edit] Club career

[edit] Marseille

Nasri began playing with Marseille when he was 9 years old. He started playing in Ligue 1 in the 2004/2005 season at the age of 17, where he started 13 games and came on as a substitute in 11 games, scoring one goal. The next season got him experience in both the UEFA Cup (10 games; no goals) and the Intertoto Cup (one game; one goal). In the 2006/2007 season he scored his first goal of the year in Ligue 1 late in the season on 29 April 2007, when he started the match against FC Sochaux-Montbéliard and helped his team to a 4–2 victory. This win allowed Marseille to climb into fourth place with just four games remaining, putting them into the UEFA Cup qualifying spot. Nasri was part of the squad that lost in the Coupe de France final in 2006 versus Paris Saint-Germain and he also lost in the 2007 final against Sochaux.
On 20 May 2007, Nasri was named French Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year^[7] ahead of Jimmy Briand and Karim Benzema. He was voted Marseille's player of the year by the fans, receiving 62% of the votes. In addition, like many, he was dubbed the "new Zizou" for his vision and dribbling skills.

[edit] Arsenal

Premier League Giants Arsenal had been tracking Nasri and moved quickly to head off rival bids from Real Madrid and Inter Milan and a bid of £12.5 million was enough to convince Marseille about his transfer. Nasri scored in his Premier League debut against West Bromwich Albion with a close range effort, after four minutes of the first game of the season, on 16 August 2008.^[8] On 27 August in the 3rd Qualifying Round 2nd Leg against FC Twente, Nasri scored in the 26th minute.^[9] He scored his third goal of the season in the 3–1 over Everton on October 18th 2008. On 8 November 2008, Nasri scored both of Arsenal's goals in a 2–1 win over Manchester United.^[10] On 17 January 2009 he scored the 2nd goal in Arsenal's 3–1 win over Hull City at the KC Stadium. On 21 March, he made the scoresheet again as Arsenal defeated Newcastle 3–1 at St. James' Park.^[11] He concluded his debut season with Arsenal with 7 goals and 5 assists.
Nasri missed the early part of the 2009–10 season with a broken leg that was picked up in the summer. On 9 March 2010 Nasri culminated an excellent display in Arsenal's 5–0 victory over Porto in the Champions League with a superb individual effort, dribbling past the Porto defence before driving it across the goalkeeper, sending the ball in off the far post.^[12][13] Nasri concluded his second Season at Arsenal with 34 games, 5 goals, and 5 assists.

[edit] International career

Nasri has been involved in the French national set up for a long time, progressing through the Under-16s, 17s, 18s, 19s and 21s. He was part of the team that won the 2004 UEFA U-17 Championship, scoring the game-winning goal in the final match.^[14] Nasri received his first cap for the senior team on 28 March 2007 against Austria, in a home friendly match at the age of 19. He delivered a free kick low into the box from which teammate Karim Benzema scored the only goal of the match. He scored his first senior international goal in his third appearance for the senior team in a 1–0 win against Georgia on 6 June 2007 in a UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier. Nasri was named in Raymond Domenech's final squad for Euro 2008; at age 20, he was one of the youngest members of the French squad selected for the final tournament. He made two appearances as a substitute and played for 32 minutes. However, he was left out of France's initial 30 man squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.^[15]

[edit] Style of play

Nasri is known for agility, dribble and hold ball in attacking line. He has been compared to Arsenal legend Robert Pirès by Arsène Wenger, who also described him as a technically outstanding player with mobility, good engine and vision.^[16][17][18]

[edit] Personal life

Samir has been in a relationship with the French tennis player Tatiana Golovin since May 2008. She lives with him in Hampstead, North London.^[19]

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] Club

(correct as of 9 May 2010)^[20]

Club	Season	League			Cup[21][22]			Europe			Total
		Apps	Goals	Assists	Apps	Goals	Assists	Apps	Goals	Assists	Apps	Goals	Assists
Marseille	2004–05	24	1	0	1	0	-	0	0	0	25	1	-
	2005–06	30	1	0	5	0	-	11	0	0	45	1	-
	2006–07	38	3	6	7	0	-	4	0	0	48	3	-
	2007–08	30	6	11	4	0	-	8	0	3	42	6	-
Total		122	11	17	17	0	-	23	0	3	162	11	-
Arsenal	2008–09	29	6	2	5	0	3	10	1	0	44	7	5
	2009–10	26	2	4	2	0	1	6	3	0	34	5	5
Total		55	8	6	7	0	4	16	4	0	78	12	10
Career total		177	19	23	24	0	4	39	4	3	240	23	30

[edit] International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	6 June 2007	Stade de l'Abbé Deschamps, Auxerre, France	Georgia	1–0	1–0	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
2.	16 November 2007	Stade de France, Paris, France	Morocco	2–1	2–2	Friendly

[edit] International

(Correct as of 15 February)^[23]

National team	Season	Apps	Goals	Assists
France	2006–07	3	1	1
	2007–08	9	1	1
	2008–09	3	0	0
	2009–10	0	0	0
Total		15	2	2

[edit] Honours

[edit] Marseille

• UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2005

[edit] International

• 2004 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship

[edit] Individual

• Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year: 2006–07
• Ligue 1 Team of the Year: 2006–07

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Samir Nasri

• The Official Samir Nasri Website
• Arsenal.com profile
• Just-Football.com – Good Player Guide #6: Samir Nasri
• French National Team Stats
• Samir Nasri career stats at Soccerbase

[show] v • d • e Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year 1994: Zidane | 1995: Maurice | 1996: Pirès | 1997: Henry | 1998: Trezeguet | 1999: Monterrubio | 2000: Christanval | 2001: Govou | 2002: Cissé | 2003: Mathis | 2004: Evra | 2005: Toulalan | 2006: Ribéry | 2007: Nasri | 2008: Ben Arfa | 2009: Hazard | 2010: Hazard

[show] v • d • e France squad – UEFA Euro 2008 1 Mandanda • 2 Boumsong • 3 Abidal • 4 Vieira (c) • 5 Gallas • 6 Makélélé • 7 Malouda • 8 Anelka • 9 Benzema • 10 Govou • 11 Nasri • 12 Henry • 13 Evra • 14 Clerc • 15 Thuram • 16 Frey • 17 Squillaci • 18 Gomis • 19 Sagnol • 20 Toulalan • 21 Diarra • 22 Ribéry • 23 Coupet • Coach: Domenech

[show] v • d • e Arsenal F.C. – current squad 1 Almunia · 2 Diaby · 3 Sagna · 4 Fàbregas (c) · 5 Vermaelen · 6 Koscielny · 7 Rosický · 8 Nasri · 10 Van Persie · 11 Vela · 14 Walcott · 15 Denílson · 16 Ramsey · 17 Song · 19 Wilshere · 20 Djourou · 21 Fabiański · 22 Clichy · 23 Arshavin · 24 Mannone · 27 Eboué · 28 Gibbs · 29 Chamakh · 30 Traoré · 33 Barazite · 34 Bartley · 36 Cruise · 37 Eastmond · 38 Emmanuel-Thomas · 39 Evina · 41 Frimpong · 43 Henderson · 44 Hoyte · 45 Lansbury · 47 Murphy · 48 Randall · 49 Shea · 50 Simpson · 51 Sunu · 52 Bendtner · 53 Szczęsny · 55 Nordtveit · Manager: Wenger