22 February 2024 , 12:50
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Samir Nasri has admitted he would root for Manchester City when they next face Arsenal, having played for both clubs during his career.
Nasri spent three seasons at Arsenal, before leaving to join City in 2011 where he went on to lift two Premier League titles and the League Cup. He ultimately retired from football after leaving Anderlecht in 2020 and now works as a pundit for French broadcaster Canal Plus.
And while working on their coverage of the Champions League on Wednesday, a tournament which both of his former clubs are still in, he was asked which of the two he supports when they play each other.
Nasri very quickly responded by picking City, but when asked to pick between City and his boyhood club Marseille he said: "Marseille, always Marseille." He joined Arsenal from Marseille in 2008 and impressed during his time at the Emirates.
However, he left under a cloud after becoming the fourth Arsenal player to quit the club for City in a short period of time, following in the footsteps of Emmanuel Adebayor, Kolo Toure and Gael Clichy.
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Nasri was accused of being a mercenary at the time and came in for plenty of criticism from Arsenal fans. However, he hit back in an interview with the Telegraph in 2014, insisting his main motivation for leaving the club was to win trophies given Arsenal had failed to win anything in his three years at the club.
"This image of me being 'materialistic' is a French thing," he said. "People were envious. It's fine. I really hesitated a long time. There was (Manchester) United. City wasn’t the big club it is right now.
"My agent told me: 'Do you want to play in the big club, already with a big history (United), where you will be just one of them? Or play for Manchester City, who didn't win the league for 44 years, where if you win the trophy, you can make history'.
"I said: 'oh, yeah, I want to make history.' In my first year, I won the league. I don't have any regrets. Yes, economically I have a better life now than what I had at Arsenal. It's normal.
"If I said to you tomorrow that there is another journal, as serious as your journal, offer you three times your salary, I think you are going to go there!' But my first motive was to win trophies."
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