Samir Nasri is recognized as a talented player. Shining at the beginning of its appearance, the French footballer’s career ended tragically because of a scandal.
Samir Nasri was in the spotlight because of his appearance when he played in a charity match between Marseille Legends and the UNICEF Team which was held at the Orange Velodrome Stadium, Wednesday (13/10/2021) evening local time. In this match, it appears that Nasri’s body is now fuller with distended stomach. In fact, the former Arsenal and Manchester City player has not even announced two months of hanging up his boots.
Nasri officially retired from professional football at the end of September this year. The last club that Samir Nasri defended was Belgian League contestant, Anderlecht. After a hiatus from football since 2020, he finally retired in September 2021.
Samir Nasri started his professional football career with one of the top French League clubs, Olympique Marseille. The attacking midfielder who was born in Septemes-les-Vallons joined the Marseille youth team in 1997. Then in 2004, he successfully penetrated the main squad for Les Phoceens.
Nasri’s first coach at Marseille, Albert Emon, admitted that his team were talented players. In fact, the great talent that exists in Nasri makes him being compared to the legend of the French national team, Zinedine Zidane.
“I really liked Nasri. At first, he was a very talented child, but (in the end) it was very painful,” said Emon, as quoted from Marseille’s official website in 2019. After being in Marseille’s uniform for four seasons, Samir Nasri then moved to England when Arsenal redeemed him at a price of 12 million pounds in the summer of 2008.
With Arsenal, Nasri began to show his light. He appeared in 125 competitive matches and scored 27 goals. Nasri’s slick performance at Arsenal also made Manchester City interested in bringing him. At the beginning of the 2011-2012 season, Nasri moved closer to the Etihad Stadium with a dowry of 25 million euros.
Samir Nasri played for Manchester City from 2011 to 2016 and shared two Premier League titles, an English League Cup and a Community Shield. However, after twice helping Man City win the Premier League, Nasri could not really reach his best potential.
Former Man City manager, Roberto Mancini, once revealed that Nasri did have problems in terms of game consistency. “I want to beat him (Nasri). Because players like him have to play like this always, in every game. Maybe one game he can’t play well, but (supposedly) only once,” said the Italian tactician.
Nasri began to lose his place at Manchester City in the 2015-16 season, a year before the arrival of Pep Guardiola. In the following season, he was loaned to Sevilla. From here, Nasri’s career began to be damaged because of the scandal that hit him.
In December 2016, Nasri was known to have visited the Drip Doctors clinic in Los Angeles, United States. At the clinic, Nasri was charged with receiving an injection of sterile water containing a micronutrient component exceeding the limit of 500 ml. Meanwhile, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) only limits it to 50 ml per six hours for active athletes.
Launching a FOX Sports article in 2017, a woman named Jamila Sozahdah who is the founder and CEO of Drip Doctors stated that her clinic provided Nasri with IV Drip Immunity to keep the player hydrated and in top condition throughout the season. After that, controversial things began to happen to Nasri. Through his personal Twitter account, Nasri said that he was involved in a sexual relationship with Sozahdah. The tweet was later deleted and Nasri denied it on the pretext that his Twitter account had been hacked.
Even so, the scandal between him and the Drip Doctors seemed to be the beginning of the ruin of Samir Nasri’s career. In February 2018, WADA sentenced Nasri to six months because he was charged with violating anti-doping rules. The UEFA Ethics and Disciplinary Supervisor then filed an appeal because they considered that the suspension for Nasri was still too light. The appeal was accepted and UEFA also increased the duration of Nasri’s sentence to 18 months.
In a question and answer session via Instagram Live in 2020, Samir Nasri admitted that the Drip Doctors scandal had destroyed his career. “What happened in Los Angeles has ruined my season. It was a legal vitamin shot and I had the prescription. I was devastated because I thought I would be banned (playing football) for two years. I didn’t want to play again after that. I even told Jorge Sampaoli (Sevilla coach at the time) to leave me, but he always wanted me to play. I was lost. I was worried and angry about everything. I didn’t show it on the pitch, but football is over for me,” said Nasri.
After Sevilla, Samir Nasri tried his luck in the Turkish League with Antalyaspor, but only lasted six months. With the punishment that befell him, Nasri returned to England to train with West Ham. The Hammers camp then tied him to a short-term contract until the end of the 2018-2019 season. In July 2019, Samir Nasri agreed to join Anderlecht on a free transfer. However, in 2020, the club let him go. Having been on a hiatus from football, Nasri finally retired in September 2021 at the age of 34.
