On the eve of the FA Cup final at Wembley tomorrow, The Times sat down with Samir Nasri for the Manchester City midfielder’s first significant interview since a tumultuous European Championship finals in Ukraine and Poland last summer.
Here is a full transcript of the interview.
James Ducker: Obviously one story has been dominating the news this week, so what are your thoughts about Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement at Manchester United?
Samir Nasri: It’s like when you think someone is going to stay their whole life at a club and die on the bench; that was my image about Ferguson. I wasn’t even born when he became the manager of United. He is someone for whom I have such big respect. He, for me, is the biggest manager in the world because he built four, five teams. Other managers make a statement with only one team, but he has changed teams so many times over the years and always with the same spirit.
JD: You’ve obviously settled at Manchester City but you came close to joining United. If you had signed for them only for Ferguson to resign a couple of years later, would it have felt strange?
SN: Yeah. I met him [Ferguson] and we spoke about me maybe going to United. I never thought he would leave that soon — what, two years later. It would have been weird. If you sign there for the manager because he wants you and you’re looking forward to working with him, for him to leave a year or two after it would not be the same.
JD: Could his departure play into City’s hands?
SN: I think so and for Chelsea, too, if the rumour about [Jose] Mourinho going there is real. I think now everything is going to change. For the past 13 years, every year Manchester United were in the top two and they are a real force. Now the guy is gone, it is going to be different because you have to adapt yourself to a new manager; you don’t know if the new manager is going to have the same power over the players. Ferguson could have a go at players like David Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo. Will they accept it if David Moyes does the same to them? It’s different but United is an institution. They will still be there; they may just need one or two years to adjust themselves. We don’t know if David Moyes is going to have the time to work like Ferguson had in the past.
JD: Has it been a topic of debate among the City players this week?
SN: Not really. We started to talk about it yesterday [Wednesday] in shock and were waiting for something official to come from Manchester United, but otherwise, no. I spoke with Robin [van Persie, the United striker and his former Arsenal team-mate] quickly about it, but otherwise, no.
JD: It’s the FA Cup Final on Saturday, a chance for you to win your second trophy in as many seasons.
SN: I’m really excited because it’s another opportunity to win and when you win, you just get more and more hungry because you want trophies. It’s a great opportunity for me and us to lift another trophy because a club like Manchester City and the direction it wants to go, we have to win a trophy every year.
JD: Given the disappointing manner of your title defence, how important is it to ensure that the season does not end without a trophy?
SN: Of course, it’s not just about the title, it’s about the Champions League as well. OK, we have been in a group with Dortmund, who are in the final, and Real Madrid, but still we could have done much better, so the FA Cup is the trophy to save our year.
JD: Wigan have got a plethora of key defenders out. It was always going to be a tall order for them to beat you but everything seems to be in your favour now?
SN: Yes, but for me I know better than some of the players here that a final is always difficult. At Arsenal two years ago, we played against Birmingham in the League Cup final. Seven or eight weeks before, we went to Birmingham in the league and won 3-0, but it was a really easy game. So, come the final, everyone said, “Oh, we’re going to win the trophy.” And we lost it. And after that, we only won two more league games for the rest of the season. So I know that the odds are never right, especially for a final. When we played against Wigan [at home in the league], we won 1-0 but struggled because they have a different system and it’s always difficult to play against a system like this. So we need to be really professional and play the game 100 per cent.
JD: Do you think because you’d beaten Birmingham easily in the league that some Arsenal players were guilty of thinking the final would be easy, too, and went into it without the right frame of mind?
SN: Yes, sometimes. Sometimes it’s subconscious. You don’t say, “Oh, we’re playing against them, it’s going to be easy.” When you play against Real Madrid, you are focused 100 per cent because you know you it’s a big game and want a performance. But if you play against a team and think you’re better than them and just relax, that’s not a good thing. Whoever you play against, it’s always a tough game.
JD: Wigan are one of those teams at the bottom that have proven adept at beating the big sides. After all, part of the reason you won the title last season ...
SN: ... is because they beat United. Yes. Last year they did a big favour for us; they beat United. They beat Arsenal at the Emirates too. They’re a team who play good football, who really deserve to be in this league. When you play against Wigan, for me it’s always a really good game because they play football, they give you space. It’s not like some typically English teams like Stoke. When you go there, you struggle to play because it’s physical; it’s really difficult. We know it’s going to a really tough game and hope we get a result.
JD: A lot of people at the club have told me that the title win last season seemed to mean more to you than almost anyone else – your emotions, relief, happiness stuck with them. Having achieved what you had long set out to do, do you think you’ve let that affect your approach at all this season as it’s been a difficult one for you?
SN: I have been stupid. I put a lot of effort in to win the title and show everyone that I made the right choice by coming to City, that it was not about money. Yes, I earn more money at Manchester City than Arsenal — let’s be honest about it — but it’s not this that motivates me. It [the decision to leave] was about the way everything was going in my last year at Arsenal. From then, in France, they were talking, saying I chose City for the money and things like that. So I lost my focus a little bit. I thought it was a fight between me and the journalists. At the European Championship finals when we lost the quarter-final, I lost the plot and from then I carried this whole thing in my head for nine months. I always had it in my mind — how could you watch the TV in France because they were talking about something [about me]? In my head, I wasn’t well. Plus I wasn’t fit for the whole year. Sometimes you are too into it that you don’t realise you are making a mistake; that what you are doing is not right. And you are lost in this. I had advice from everyone — my family, agent — saying, “Come on, let it go. Talk to them [the media] — say what you felt in the European Championship, tell them your story and you’re going to feel much better.” And I was like, “No, no, I don’t want to talk to them.” It was only in the week before we played against Newcastle that I felt well again. Since then, I’ve had good performances because my head is clear. Before that, I wasn’t well. For nine months, I didn’t speak to anyone.
JD: Do you regret your behaviour at the European Championship finals now?
SN: I do regret it. You become a better man and person when you make a mistake and learn from that mistake. For eight or nine months, I thought it was me against everyone, and that wasn’t the case. Sometimes you are in your own world and you don’t think about everything else.
JD: Your outbursts at the European Championship finals, was that because you’d allowed all the criticism and abuse you received for leaving Arsenal for City the previous summer to build up?
SN: The thing is you keep things and keep things and keep things in you. I promise you, if you’d had my Twitter account for a year and seen the amount of abuse from fans for leaving Arsenal for City, you’d understand what I felt. But I let all these things build up inside me. You can say nothing back because you have a public image. If you said something back, you know what would happen. And then because Arsene Wenger is French and so well respected, when you leave Arsenal to go to another club, they are not quite happy.
JD: How much abuse and criticism did you get?
SN: So much. For example, Gael [Clichy] left Arsenal for Manchester City the same summer and didn’t get anything like the same. You take it and take it until one day you explode and during the preparation for the European Championship, it had been the same. So when I scored against England, I did that [the gesture to the French media]. When you score, people forgive you, but when we lost to Spain [in the quarter-finals] and were out of the competition and you say something then, it’s not the same. When you score, when you win, everyone says, “OK, OK”, but when you lose, it’s a different story. And that’s what happened.
JD: Laurent Blanc, the France coach at the time, said your outburst at a reporter after the Spain defeat was embarrassing and regrettable. Would you agree with that now?
SN: I regret but if he [the journalist] does it again, I don’t know if I wouldn’t react in the same way. His boss sent a letter to the [French Football] Federation to write an apology. It was not like I went out and just deliberately had a go at the journalist. That’s not what happened. I went out, started to walk through the mixed zone and the journalist asked if I wanted to talk. I said I didn’t want to talk and went to the bus. But I’d forgot something, so went back to the dressing room and when I came out the guy from security said you’ll have to go back through the mixed zone again. I said I’ve just come through it and he said, “Yes, but you’ll have to go through it again.” So the journalist saw me again and said, “Hey, we came to Ukraine, you can say something.” I said I don’t want to talk to you because you make me feel like I’m the bad boy of the team, at which point he said, “Yeah. Go away then.” But that’s the light version. So when he said that, I started to walk and then turned around and came back and said what I did. So that’s what happened. If he’d said nothing, I’d have gone to the bus, but when someone says something, I will react. It’s just the way I am and that’s why I need to relax.
JD: Someone who is not in the public eye could get away with reacting, but the point is you can’t?
SN: In England, it depends on who you talk to. The tabloids like the stories — who went out. Some papers are smart and you can talk intelligently with. The difference in France is that with the journalists now, if you don’t talk to them, they will write bad things about you, even if you had a good game. The public, the fans — how do they get to know their players? Through the journalists, through the TV. They just know you by that.
And in France my image was bad because I refused to speak with anyone. I didn’t speak with them and they “killed” me every day. Some players were as bad as me sometimes, but when you look at the paper you’re like, “Oh wow”, and it’s because he’s friends with the newspaper. I don’t like this. You can criticise me if I’m no good; that’s your job and I respect it like you respect mine, but just be objective with everything that you are writing and that’s why I refused to speak with them. This is why I did an interview with you because the newspaper you work for, I like it.
JD: You have a reputation for being bright and very candid, but do you think you went too far?
SN: I prefer to say everything I feel, so everyone knows my point of view. But sometimes you have to be careful with the way you phrase things because it can be interpreted the wrong way, and that was the case at the time. If you don’t do it, some journalists say, “Oh this guy is not interesting because he says the things that all footballers say.” ‘Yes it was an important game; it was a good game.’ But if you have someone who says everything he thinks and is honest, I think it’s better. Before, I was like this. I would go home and I was frustrated, and I said, “Come on, just be yourself.”
People like you for who you are and not the image you might want to project to people.
JD: You got banned for three matches for your tirade at the reporter and haven’t played for your country since. What’s your view? Are you not bothered if you don’t play for France again or are you desperate to be called back up?
SN: I’m not bothered [in the sense that] if I’m not in the national team, it’s because the coach [Didier Deschamps] thinks I don’t deserve to be. If he called me tomorrow, then yes, I’m going to go back and play for the national team. I can speak with the coach every day. We have the same agent; it’s really easy if we want to speak. After my season, I didn’t deserve to be in the national team, but I started to play well a few months ago, so we will see about the two friendly games in June. First of all, I have to perform on the pitch. Of course, my return to the national team would not be like any player when they come back to the national team. At the European Championship, everyone went crazy about it, so I don’t know what the reaction of the people will be like if I go back. It’s a little bit tough.
JD: Have you spoken with Deschamps about the situation?
SN: He didn’t want to pick me for the games against Spain because he said he didn’t want to put pressure on the group because it will come back and everyone will start to talk about it. I could understand that. After that, they drew in Spain, had a fantastic game in Spain, so you cannot change your team then and they went to Italy the month after and won there. If they have a good team, I’m really happy for them because I always support my country and I wasn’t playing well, so I can’t just be there on name. You need to pick the best players at that moment.
JD: Your international career has been very stop-start. You went to Euro 2008 and had some issues there, missed out on the World Cup two years later and then there was last summer. How would you sum it up so far?
SN: With the national team, it’s different than with the clubs. The pressure is not the same. You have the pressure of the whole country with the national team. In 2008, I think I was a little bit too young to be in the squad. I was frustrated because I was on the bench and watching everyone play. 2010, when you look at, it’s like, “Oh yeah, it’s a blessing I didn’t go” but when the list came I almost cried because I wasn’t even in the 30 best players. I was like, “Really? Seriously?” I almost cried. But Arsene Wenger called me and said, “Listen, don’t worry about it, they don’t understand. Just go on holiday, rest, come back fresh.” After that, I had my best season at Arsenal. 2012? The same. We started well, then lost the last game against Sweden, but were already qualified and then everything was falling apart.
There’s something about the head in this national team. It’s like when something goes wrong, it’s like everything falls apart. We have the quality.
JD: We think there is pressure on the England team in this country, but is the pressure far greater in France?
SN: I don’t know because the pressure in England is huge. You have not won the World Cup since 1966, which is a long time. In France, if you’re an offensive midfielder and you start to play well it’s, “Oh, you’re the new Zidane; oh, you’re the new Platini.” It’s difficult. They were the best players in the world, they won the Golden Balls, but you’ve just arrived. Don’t put pressure like that on us, every player is different, let us play. My generation — it was like it’s the new best generation. Come on, come down, let us play and give us confidence. In France, the problem is if you play for the national team and have two great games, you’re the best player in the world. Two bad games, oh you’re the worst player. We need a centre ground. We have a new great generation with [Paul] Pogba, [Raphael] Varane. We are all right so can do something [at the World Cup] in 2014.
JD: The World Cup winners of 1998 — the rainbow team — proved players of all backgrounds and origin could come together and succeed, but there have been a lot more issues among the squad in recent tournaments?
SN: Before, it was good. In 1998, they were calling them black, white and beur. And they were winning. The question now in France is different. The people on the Right are starting to get a bit of the control and it’s not as open as before. It’s more difficult than it was before, but that’s the key success in France — we have this really rich background and I love this; I really love this. You’re English, you’re Ukrainian, you’re American, that’s your origin, but we are all French. We were all born here and we’re all together, and that’s what I like. But it’s not as fresh in France now as it was before and we need to come back [to what it was]. That was our strength in the past.
JD: Your form has really picked up in recent weeks. Is it fair to say you have a clear head now?
SN: Yes, my head is clear, I’m happy in my life. Like I said, I had a really tough year about everything. I lost two members of my family, my uncle and aunt from both sides. I was very close to them. We’re human. If something does not go well in your family, your head is not at the training ground, it’s away somewhere, but you still have to be there because it’s your job. In the last six weeks, yeah, everything is fine. I’m happy, my family is with me a bit more. I’m great in my head and when I’m like that, I can play the football I know.
JD: Roberto Mancini has criticised you in public because he cannot understand why a player of your quality has not delivered like he believes you should. What was your reaction to what he said?
SN: I didn’t take it wrongly. He is the manager, he can say whatever he wants. I agreed with him. I knew. Sometimes I don’t need him to tell me because I’m professional. When I go home, I watch the games again because I love football. I watch every game: second division, Premier League. I know if I’ve played well or if I’ve played s*** and, for eight months, I wasn’t good. I didn’t deserve to be in the national team. So I understand what the manager was saying because it must be frustrating when you have a quality player and he doesn’t perform and you don’t know why because you try to play him there; play him there, but he still doesn’t perform. So at some point you have no choice but to put him on the bench and you go to the press to try to get a reaction from him. And it worked. We had a chat about it. The day the interview went out, he called me to tell me, “Sam, it wasn’t ...” and I was like, “It’s fine.” I spoke with him at the training ground and he said, “It’s in the press but you know exactly what I think about you” and I said, “Yes”. A couple of times he’s said to me, “If you don’t score a goal or make an assist, you’re going out of the game”, and I said, “Why?” And he said, “Because a player like you has to do it every day.” I said, “Nah, come on.” And he said, “No, that is really what I think about you” and so when the manager thinks this about you, you cannot get annoyed when he says something critical about you.
JD: A lot of players can’t handle public criticism. Should they be big enough to accept it?
SN: Some managers have different ways of working. Arsene Wenger would never criticise a player in public. He’s going to come to you and tell you. Sometimes you have players who have a big ego and if you say something in public, they are going to react. You have different types of player. Before, I wasn’t very good at accepting public criticism. I’d be like, “Why doesn’t he come and tell me?” But he [Mancini] just wants the best from his players on the pitch because he has to win. If he doesn’t, he gets fired. So take it [the criticism] and show him you can play. Starting a war of words doesn’t fix anything. Just accept it, work hard and show it on the pitch.
JD: Mancini has a reputation for being autocratic and confrontational behind the scenes, but he is also a winner and won’t accept a drop in standards. Do you agree with that?
SN: Of course. A winner doesn’t accept to lose at anything. In training, you can’t accept to lose a game. All the biggest champions in any sport have a big ego, work hard in training and they don’t accept to lose. Michael Jordan, if you see all his interviews, he’ll tell you everything. Cristiano Ronaldo? Everyone says he is arrogant. No, he is just sure about himself. You can see all the biggest champions and they make the right decisions at the right moments, they’re always there in the big games. In training, they’ll work harder than anyone and that’s the mentality we have to have: to put more into the club to continue to succeed.
JD: You also got a lot of criticism for the way you turned your back on Robin van Persie’s free kick against United in December and ended up deflecting it past Joe Hart. Why did you do that and what did you think when you watched it back? How disappointed were you?
SN: I don’t know what went through my head. It was an instinct. I saw the ball and tried to put my leg out. If I didn’t, I think Joe Hart could have saved it. I don’t know what I was thinking. I don’t know how many times I was thinking about it afterwards. Eventually I had to turn off the TV. I spoke with my dad and he said, “Why are you scared of the ball, do you think it’s going to be burn you or something?” At the time I almost cried I was so upset with myself. Really, for one or two weeks I was very upset with myself. How could you do that? It was a derby and, with a draw, we’d have stayed a few points behind them, but they won the game and it was a big moment in the title race.
JD: You’re close with Robin from your time at Arsenal together. Did he say anything in the week or two after the match?
SN: Robin didn’t say anything. No, no. It was better for him not to.
JD: What have been your thoughts on Van Persie this season? Has he been the main difference between the teams?
SN: If you look at the numbers, yeah, he’s the difference. He added 25 goals to United. I played with him and know how good he is. He’s performed really well for two years. Before that, he was injured a lot.
He’s one of the best in the world; he has a great touch, great finishing, a great technique and he’s really strong on the ball now. He has everything needed to be a great striker and he’s also a straight guy. When he thinks something, he says it. We’re similar; that’s why we’re really good friends. He’s someone that I like as a person and as a player and he’s made the difference this year.
JD: You have a lot of champions, a lot of big players and personalities at City, but it’s been a disappointing title defence. What do you put that down to and what do you have to do to improve?
SN: They [United] were better at winning the scrappy games. That’s what United have done for years. That’s why they always win the title. One-nil at Stoke. They have this mentality. Sometimes we want to play too much, but it will come with years of experience; it takes time. When you’ve won a lot, you can’t accept losing. We are coming slowly to this mentality. For example, when we lost 3-1 to Southampton [in February], we had a meeting between the players, only the players, to say this is not acceptable what we just did. We weren’t pretty bad, we were really bad. So we were talking between ourselves to say, “This can’t happen in the future.” I’m not worried about the future of this club.
JD: Do you believe people have not seen the best of you and that the challenge for you is to be consistent over a sustained period?
SN: Yeah, I hope I am going to maintain this form now and it doesn’t stop. That’s what I need. Everyone at some point has seen flashes of what I can do, but what I need is consistency. If I can repeat the sort of performances I’ve put in over the past six weeks over the whole year, then it’s going to be different. I know that I can do it if my body leaves me alone. All my managers know what I can, so it means I have it in me. I have to believe and show it on the pitch. It’s one thing to know, but you have to show it on the pitch.
JD: You’re still only 25. Are the next two or three years going to be key?
SN: Of course. What Arsene Wenger said was you are going to have your maturity at 28. He said this about Robert Pires — “Yeah, he was a good player when he arrived but from 28-31 he was at his best.” And that’s the best years. Now it’s time for me to work, improve myself and be more consistent.
JD: There is a lot of talk linking you with a move to Paris Saint-Germain. Are you keen to stay at City?
SN: The thing is I have a good relationship with Leonardo [the PSG director of football] because he wanted me at Inter Milan before I signed for City. But I’ve never had a talk with them [PSG]. I want to stay here and show everyone — the fans, the people at the club who trusted me and made my transfer a reality — that they haven’t seen the real Samir yet. I want to perform for them, I don’t want to leave. I’m not the type of guy who just leaves when there is a difficulty. No, I want to stay and show everyone I have the quality and perform really well.
Here is a full transcript of the interview.
James Ducker: Obviously one story has been dominating the news this week, so what are your thoughts about Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement at Manchester United?
Samir Nasri: It’s like when you think someone is going to stay their whole life at a club and die on the bench; that was my image about Ferguson. I wasn’t even born when he became the manager of United. He is someone for whom I have such big respect. He, for me, is the biggest manager in the world because he built four, five teams. Other managers make a statement with only one team, but he has changed teams so many times over the years and always with the same spirit.
JD: You’ve obviously settled at Manchester City but you came close to joining United. If you had signed for them only for Ferguson to resign a couple of years later, would it have felt strange?
SN: Yeah. I met him [Ferguson] and we spoke about me maybe going to United. I never thought he would leave that soon — what, two years later. It would have been weird. If you sign there for the manager because he wants you and you’re looking forward to working with him, for him to leave a year or two after it would not be the same.
JD: Could his departure play into City’s hands?
SN: I think so and for Chelsea, too, if the rumour about [Jose] Mourinho going there is real. I think now everything is going to change. For the past 13 years, every year Manchester United were in the top two and they are a real force. Now the guy is gone, it is going to be different because you have to adapt yourself to a new manager; you don’t know if the new manager is going to have the same power over the players. Ferguson could have a go at players like David Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo. Will they accept it if David Moyes does the same to them? It’s different but United is an institution. They will still be there; they may just need one or two years to adjust themselves. We don’t know if David Moyes is going to have the time to work like Ferguson had in the past.
JD: Has it been a topic of debate among the City players this week?
SN: Not really. We started to talk about it yesterday [Wednesday] in shock and were waiting for something official to come from Manchester United, but otherwise, no. I spoke with Robin [van Persie, the United striker and his former Arsenal team-mate] quickly about it, but otherwise, no.
JD: It’s the FA Cup Final on Saturday, a chance for you to win your second trophy in as many seasons.
SN: I’m really excited because it’s another opportunity to win and when you win, you just get more and more hungry because you want trophies. It’s a great opportunity for me and us to lift another trophy because a club like Manchester City and the direction it wants to go, we have to win a trophy every year.
JD: Given the disappointing manner of your title defence, how important is it to ensure that the season does not end without a trophy?
SN: Of course, it’s not just about the title, it’s about the Champions League as well. OK, we have been in a group with Dortmund, who are in the final, and Real Madrid, but still we could have done much better, so the FA Cup is the trophy to save our year.
JD: Wigan have got a plethora of key defenders out. It was always going to be a tall order for them to beat you but everything seems to be in your favour now?
SN: Yes, but for me I know better than some of the players here that a final is always difficult. At Arsenal two years ago, we played against Birmingham in the League Cup final. Seven or eight weeks before, we went to Birmingham in the league and won 3-0, but it was a really easy game. So, come the final, everyone said, “Oh, we’re going to win the trophy.” And we lost it. And after that, we only won two more league games for the rest of the season. So I know that the odds are never right, especially for a final. When we played against Wigan [at home in the league], we won 1-0 but struggled because they have a different system and it’s always difficult to play against a system like this. So we need to be really professional and play the game 100 per cent.
JD: Do you think because you’d beaten Birmingham easily in the league that some Arsenal players were guilty of thinking the final would be easy, too, and went into it without the right frame of mind?
SN: Yes, sometimes. Sometimes it’s subconscious. You don’t say, “Oh, we’re playing against them, it’s going to be easy.” When you play against Real Madrid, you are focused 100 per cent because you know you it’s a big game and want a performance. But if you play against a team and think you’re better than them and just relax, that’s not a good thing. Whoever you play against, it’s always a tough game.
JD: Wigan are one of those teams at the bottom that have proven adept at beating the big sides. After all, part of the reason you won the title last season ...
SN: ... is because they beat United. Yes. Last year they did a big favour for us; they beat United. They beat Arsenal at the Emirates too. They’re a team who play good football, who really deserve to be in this league. When you play against Wigan, for me it’s always a really good game because they play football, they give you space. It’s not like some typically English teams like Stoke. When you go there, you struggle to play because it’s physical; it’s really difficult. We know it’s going to a really tough game and hope we get a result.
JD: A lot of people at the club have told me that the title win last season seemed to mean more to you than almost anyone else – your emotions, relief, happiness stuck with them. Having achieved what you had long set out to do, do you think you’ve let that affect your approach at all this season as it’s been a difficult one for you?
SN: I have been stupid. I put a lot of effort in to win the title and show everyone that I made the right choice by coming to City, that it was not about money. Yes, I earn more money at Manchester City than Arsenal — let’s be honest about it — but it’s not this that motivates me. It [the decision to leave] was about the way everything was going in my last year at Arsenal. From then, in France, they were talking, saying I chose City for the money and things like that. So I lost my focus a little bit. I thought it was a fight between me and the journalists. At the European Championship finals when we lost the quarter-final, I lost the plot and from then I carried this whole thing in my head for nine months. I always had it in my mind — how could you watch the TV in France because they were talking about something [about me]? In my head, I wasn’t well. Plus I wasn’t fit for the whole year. Sometimes you are too into it that you don’t realise you are making a mistake; that what you are doing is not right. And you are lost in this. I had advice from everyone — my family, agent — saying, “Come on, let it go. Talk to them [the media] — say what you felt in the European Championship, tell them your story and you’re going to feel much better.” And I was like, “No, no, I don’t want to talk to them.” It was only in the week before we played against Newcastle that I felt well again. Since then, I’ve had good performances because my head is clear. Before that, I wasn’t well. For nine months, I didn’t speak to anyone.
JD: Do you regret your behaviour at the European Championship finals now?
SN: I do regret it. You become a better man and person when you make a mistake and learn from that mistake. For eight or nine months, I thought it was me against everyone, and that wasn’t the case. Sometimes you are in your own world and you don’t think about everything else.
JD: Your outbursts at the European Championship finals, was that because you’d allowed all the criticism and abuse you received for leaving Arsenal for City the previous summer to build up?
SN: The thing is you keep things and keep things and keep things in you. I promise you, if you’d had my Twitter account for a year and seen the amount of abuse from fans for leaving Arsenal for City, you’d understand what I felt. But I let all these things build up inside me. You can say nothing back because you have a public image. If you said something back, you know what would happen. And then because Arsene Wenger is French and so well respected, when you leave Arsenal to go to another club, they are not quite happy.
JD: How much abuse and criticism did you get?
SN: So much. For example, Gael [Clichy] left Arsenal for Manchester City the same summer and didn’t get anything like the same. You take it and take it until one day you explode and during the preparation for the European Championship, it had been the same. So when I scored against England, I did that [the gesture to the French media]. When you score, people forgive you, but when we lost to Spain [in the quarter-finals] and were out of the competition and you say something then, it’s not the same. When you score, when you win, everyone says, “OK, OK”, but when you lose, it’s a different story. And that’s what happened.
JD: Laurent Blanc, the France coach at the time, said your outburst at a reporter after the Spain defeat was embarrassing and regrettable. Would you agree with that now?
SN: I regret but if he [the journalist] does it again, I don’t know if I wouldn’t react in the same way. His boss sent a letter to the [French Football] Federation to write an apology. It was not like I went out and just deliberately had a go at the journalist. That’s not what happened. I went out, started to walk through the mixed zone and the journalist asked if I wanted to talk. I said I didn’t want to talk and went to the bus. But I’d forgot something, so went back to the dressing room and when I came out the guy from security said you’ll have to go back through the mixed zone again. I said I’ve just come through it and he said, “Yes, but you’ll have to go through it again.” So the journalist saw me again and said, “Hey, we came to Ukraine, you can say something.” I said I don’t want to talk to you because you make me feel like I’m the bad boy of the team, at which point he said, “Yeah. Go away then.” But that’s the light version. So when he said that, I started to walk and then turned around and came back and said what I did. So that’s what happened. If he’d said nothing, I’d have gone to the bus, but when someone says something, I will react. It’s just the way I am and that’s why I need to relax.
JD: Someone who is not in the public eye could get away with reacting, but the point is you can’t?
SN: In England, it depends on who you talk to. The tabloids like the stories — who went out. Some papers are smart and you can talk intelligently with. The difference in France is that with the journalists now, if you don’t talk to them, they will write bad things about you, even if you had a good game. The public, the fans — how do they get to know their players? Through the journalists, through the TV. They just know you by that.
And in France my image was bad because I refused to speak with anyone. I didn’t speak with them and they “killed” me every day. Some players were as bad as me sometimes, but when you look at the paper you’re like, “Oh wow”, and it’s because he’s friends with the newspaper. I don’t like this. You can criticise me if I’m no good; that’s your job and I respect it like you respect mine, but just be objective with everything that you are writing and that’s why I refused to speak with them. This is why I did an interview with you because the newspaper you work for, I like it.
JD: You have a reputation for being bright and very candid, but do you think you went too far?
SN: I prefer to say everything I feel, so everyone knows my point of view. But sometimes you have to be careful with the way you phrase things because it can be interpreted the wrong way, and that was the case at the time. If you don’t do it, some journalists say, “Oh this guy is not interesting because he says the things that all footballers say.” ‘Yes it was an important game; it was a good game.’ But if you have someone who says everything he thinks and is honest, I think it’s better. Before, I was like this. I would go home and I was frustrated, and I said, “Come on, just be yourself.”
People like you for who you are and not the image you might want to project to people.
JD: You got banned for three matches for your tirade at the reporter and haven’t played for your country since. What’s your view? Are you not bothered if you don’t play for France again or are you desperate to be called back up?
SN: I’m not bothered [in the sense that] if I’m not in the national team, it’s because the coach [Didier Deschamps] thinks I don’t deserve to be. If he called me tomorrow, then yes, I’m going to go back and play for the national team. I can speak with the coach every day. We have the same agent; it’s really easy if we want to speak. After my season, I didn’t deserve to be in the national team, but I started to play well a few months ago, so we will see about the two friendly games in June. First of all, I have to perform on the pitch. Of course, my return to the national team would not be like any player when they come back to the national team. At the European Championship, everyone went crazy about it, so I don’t know what the reaction of the people will be like if I go back. It’s a little bit tough.
JD: Have you spoken with Deschamps about the situation?
SN: He didn’t want to pick me for the games against Spain because he said he didn’t want to put pressure on the group because it will come back and everyone will start to talk about it. I could understand that. After that, they drew in Spain, had a fantastic game in Spain, so you cannot change your team then and they went to Italy the month after and won there. If they have a good team, I’m really happy for them because I always support my country and I wasn’t playing well, so I can’t just be there on name. You need to pick the best players at that moment.
JD: Your international career has been very stop-start. You went to Euro 2008 and had some issues there, missed out on the World Cup two years later and then there was last summer. How would you sum it up so far?
SN: With the national team, it’s different than with the clubs. The pressure is not the same. You have the pressure of the whole country with the national team. In 2008, I think I was a little bit too young to be in the squad. I was frustrated because I was on the bench and watching everyone play. 2010, when you look at, it’s like, “Oh yeah, it’s a blessing I didn’t go” but when the list came I almost cried because I wasn’t even in the 30 best players. I was like, “Really? Seriously?” I almost cried. But Arsene Wenger called me and said, “Listen, don’t worry about it, they don’t understand. Just go on holiday, rest, come back fresh.” After that, I had my best season at Arsenal. 2012? The same. We started well, then lost the last game against Sweden, but were already qualified and then everything was falling apart.
There’s something about the head in this national team. It’s like when something goes wrong, it’s like everything falls apart. We have the quality.
JD: We think there is pressure on the England team in this country, but is the pressure far greater in France?
SN: I don’t know because the pressure in England is huge. You have not won the World Cup since 1966, which is a long time. In France, if you’re an offensive midfielder and you start to play well it’s, “Oh, you’re the new Zidane; oh, you’re the new Platini.” It’s difficult. They were the best players in the world, they won the Golden Balls, but you’ve just arrived. Don’t put pressure like that on us, every player is different, let us play. My generation — it was like it’s the new best generation. Come on, come down, let us play and give us confidence. In France, the problem is if you play for the national team and have two great games, you’re the best player in the world. Two bad games, oh you’re the worst player. We need a centre ground. We have a new great generation with [Paul] Pogba, [Raphael] Varane. We are all right so can do something [at the World Cup] in 2014.
JD: The World Cup winners of 1998 — the rainbow team — proved players of all backgrounds and origin could come together and succeed, but there have been a lot more issues among the squad in recent tournaments?
SN: Before, it was good. In 1998, they were calling them black, white and beur. And they were winning. The question now in France is different. The people on the Right are starting to get a bit of the control and it’s not as open as before. It’s more difficult than it was before, but that’s the key success in France — we have this really rich background and I love this; I really love this. You’re English, you’re Ukrainian, you’re American, that’s your origin, but we are all French. We were all born here and we’re all together, and that’s what I like. But it’s not as fresh in France now as it was before and we need to come back [to what it was]. That was our strength in the past.
JD: Your form has really picked up in recent weeks. Is it fair to say you have a clear head now?
SN: Yes, my head is clear, I’m happy in my life. Like I said, I had a really tough year about everything. I lost two members of my family, my uncle and aunt from both sides. I was very close to them. We’re human. If something does not go well in your family, your head is not at the training ground, it’s away somewhere, but you still have to be there because it’s your job. In the last six weeks, yeah, everything is fine. I’m happy, my family is with me a bit more. I’m great in my head and when I’m like that, I can play the football I know.
JD: Roberto Mancini has criticised you in public because he cannot understand why a player of your quality has not delivered like he believes you should. What was your reaction to what he said?
SN: I didn’t take it wrongly. He is the manager, he can say whatever he wants. I agreed with him. I knew. Sometimes I don’t need him to tell me because I’m professional. When I go home, I watch the games again because I love football. I watch every game: second division, Premier League. I know if I’ve played well or if I’ve played s*** and, for eight months, I wasn’t good. I didn’t deserve to be in the national team. So I understand what the manager was saying because it must be frustrating when you have a quality player and he doesn’t perform and you don’t know why because you try to play him there; play him there, but he still doesn’t perform. So at some point you have no choice but to put him on the bench and you go to the press to try to get a reaction from him. And it worked. We had a chat about it. The day the interview went out, he called me to tell me, “Sam, it wasn’t ...” and I was like, “It’s fine.” I spoke with him at the training ground and he said, “It’s in the press but you know exactly what I think about you” and I said, “Yes”. A couple of times he’s said to me, “If you don’t score a goal or make an assist, you’re going out of the game”, and I said, “Why?” And he said, “Because a player like you has to do it every day.” I said, “Nah, come on.” And he said, “No, that is really what I think about you” and so when the manager thinks this about you, you cannot get annoyed when he says something critical about you.
JD: A lot of players can’t handle public criticism. Should they be big enough to accept it?
SN: Some managers have different ways of working. Arsene Wenger would never criticise a player in public. He’s going to come to you and tell you. Sometimes you have players who have a big ego and if you say something in public, they are going to react. You have different types of player. Before, I wasn’t very good at accepting public criticism. I’d be like, “Why doesn’t he come and tell me?” But he [Mancini] just wants the best from his players on the pitch because he has to win. If he doesn’t, he gets fired. So take it [the criticism] and show him you can play. Starting a war of words doesn’t fix anything. Just accept it, work hard and show it on the pitch.
JD: Mancini has a reputation for being autocratic and confrontational behind the scenes, but he is also a winner and won’t accept a drop in standards. Do you agree with that?
SN: Of course. A winner doesn’t accept to lose at anything. In training, you can’t accept to lose a game. All the biggest champions in any sport have a big ego, work hard in training and they don’t accept to lose. Michael Jordan, if you see all his interviews, he’ll tell you everything. Cristiano Ronaldo? Everyone says he is arrogant. No, he is just sure about himself. You can see all the biggest champions and they make the right decisions at the right moments, they’re always there in the big games. In training, they’ll work harder than anyone and that’s the mentality we have to have: to put more into the club to continue to succeed.
JD: You also got a lot of criticism for the way you turned your back on Robin van Persie’s free kick against United in December and ended up deflecting it past Joe Hart. Why did you do that and what did you think when you watched it back? How disappointed were you?
SN: I don’t know what went through my head. It was an instinct. I saw the ball and tried to put my leg out. If I didn’t, I think Joe Hart could have saved it. I don’t know what I was thinking. I don’t know how many times I was thinking about it afterwards. Eventually I had to turn off the TV. I spoke with my dad and he said, “Why are you scared of the ball, do you think it’s going to be burn you or something?” At the time I almost cried I was so upset with myself. Really, for one or two weeks I was very upset with myself. How could you do that? It was a derby and, with a draw, we’d have stayed a few points behind them, but they won the game and it was a big moment in the title race.
JD: You’re close with Robin from your time at Arsenal together. Did he say anything in the week or two after the match?
SN: Robin didn’t say anything. No, no. It was better for him not to.
JD: What have been your thoughts on Van Persie this season? Has he been the main difference between the teams?
SN: If you look at the numbers, yeah, he’s the difference. He added 25 goals to United. I played with him and know how good he is. He’s performed really well for two years. Before that, he was injured a lot.
He’s one of the best in the world; he has a great touch, great finishing, a great technique and he’s really strong on the ball now. He has everything needed to be a great striker and he’s also a straight guy. When he thinks something, he says it. We’re similar; that’s why we’re really good friends. He’s someone that I like as a person and as a player and he’s made the difference this year.
JD: You have a lot of champions, a lot of big players and personalities at City, but it’s been a disappointing title defence. What do you put that down to and what do you have to do to improve?
SN: They [United] were better at winning the scrappy games. That’s what United have done for years. That’s why they always win the title. One-nil at Stoke. They have this mentality. Sometimes we want to play too much, but it will come with years of experience; it takes time. When you’ve won a lot, you can’t accept losing. We are coming slowly to this mentality. For example, when we lost 3-1 to Southampton [in February], we had a meeting between the players, only the players, to say this is not acceptable what we just did. We weren’t pretty bad, we were really bad. So we were talking between ourselves to say, “This can’t happen in the future.” I’m not worried about the future of this club.
JD: Do you believe people have not seen the best of you and that the challenge for you is to be consistent over a sustained period?
SN: Yeah, I hope I am going to maintain this form now and it doesn’t stop. That’s what I need. Everyone at some point has seen flashes of what I can do, but what I need is consistency. If I can repeat the sort of performances I’ve put in over the past six weeks over the whole year, then it’s going to be different. I know that I can do it if my body leaves me alone. All my managers know what I can, so it means I have it in me. I have to believe and show it on the pitch. It’s one thing to know, but you have to show it on the pitch.
JD: You’re still only 25. Are the next two or three years going to be key?
SN: Of course. What Arsene Wenger said was you are going to have your maturity at 28. He said this about Robert Pires — “Yeah, he was a good player when he arrived but from 28-31 he was at his best.” And that’s the best years. Now it’s time for me to work, improve myself and be more consistent.
JD: There is a lot of talk linking you with a move to Paris Saint-Germain. Are you keen to stay at City?
SN: The thing is I have a good relationship with Leonardo [the PSG director of football] because he wanted me at Inter Milan before I signed for City. But I’ve never had a talk with them [PSG]. I want to stay here and show everyone — the fans, the people at the club who trusted me and made my transfer a reality — that they haven’t seen the real Samir yet. I want to perform for them, I don’t want to leave. I’m not the type of guy who just leaves when there is a difficulty. No, I want to stay and show everyone I have the quality and perform really well.