Samir Nasri: Ex-Arsenal ace once channelled his inner Messi with Premier League stunners | OneFootball

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·27 September 2021

Samir Nasri: Ex-Arsenal ace once channelled his inner Messi with Premier League stunners

Article image:Samir Nasri: Ex-Arsenal ace once channelled his inner Messi with Premier League stunners

Samir Nasri has announced his retirement from professional football.

It's been a while since supporters around the globe have been able to see Nasri play the beautiful game on a regular basis and the Frenchman has now called time on his career at 34 years old.


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According to Sky Sports, Nasri told French publication Le Journal du Dimanche Nasri that the 18-month ban that he was given for undergoing an intravenous treatment influenced his decision.

Nasri announces his retirement

"An incident really hurt me and changed my relationship with football: my suspension. I found it more than unfair as I didn't take any drugs," the midfielder explained.

Nasri had only been able to make a handful of appearances for Antalyaspor, West Ham United and Anderlecht over the course of a quiet few seasons that brought his career to a close.

And while such an underwhelming end to his playing time in football will certainly wound his legacy, football fans won't forget just how incredibly talented that Nasri really was during his prime years.

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Nasri's Premier League prime

Besides, lest we forget that we are talking about a player who was capped 41 times for France and won four major honours, including two Premier League titles, during his time at Manchester City.

However, some would argue that Nasri's best football actually came before his move to the Etihad Stadium and during the three seasons that he spent at Arsenal.

Gooners haven't exactly forgiven Nasri for his ignominious move to City, but there's no denying that his final season in north London - the 2010/11 campaign - was truly something to behold.

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Article image:Samir Nasri: Ex-Arsenal ace once channelled his inner Messi with Premier League stunners

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Nasri channels his inner Messi

The former Marseille prodigy helped himself to 15 goals and a PFA Players' Player of the Year nomination, but it was his performance in a 2-1 win over Fulham that really took the biscuit.

And we say that because Nasri scored two goals of truly remarkable quality, channelling his inner Lionel Messi for a brace of solo efforts that most players couldn't dream of scoring in their career.

Remarkably, though, Nasri was able to score two spectacular goals in the same match and we highly recommend that you reflect on their brilliance down below:

Oh my goodness. Nasri really was unstoppable at the top of his game.

Underrated Premier League baller

There's just something so outrageous about the way he uses back-to-back fake shots to flatten Fulham defenders for the first goal and then somehow manages to outdo himself with the second.

Not only was Nasri able to display Messi-like footwork to breach the Fulham defence and round Mark Schwarzer, but he showed superb balance to score from what seemed an improbable angle.

Article image:Samir Nasri: Ex-Arsenal ace once channelled his inner Messi with Premier League stunners

It really was the perfect example of a gifted player single-handedly winning a game and it goes to show that Nasri is amongst the most underrated ballers in Premier League history.

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