Nasri: I’d be better if Wenger was my boss

Samir Nasri claims he would have coped better at Manchester City this season if Arsene Wenger had been his manager.

The French midfielder hit out at current boss Roberto Mancini and lifted the lid on his departure from Arsenal, claiming Wenger promised he could stay at the club if Cesc Fabregas left to Barcelona the same summer. That didn’t happen because Gunners owner Stan Kroenke did not want Nasri leaving the club for nothing 12 months later.

Nasri responded to Mancini, who criticised the player for not training at full capacity. “Mancini showed bad faith in his comments,” Nasri said. “He’s exaggerating. If he wants to hit me then he should hit me. He doesn’t necessarily speak all that good English so sometimes his comments are a bit raw. When he said I trained at 50%, that wasn’t true. I haven’t had a good season, I am aware of that and the first to admit it. To say it’s because of a lack of effort just isn’t true.”