The Daily Observer London Desk: Reporter- Judith Benjamin
Samir Nasri has revealed how ‘arrogant’ Pep Guardiola scolded him about being overweight during their brief time working together at Manchester City.
The France international told Guardiola ‘don’t yell at me, I’m not a child’ to silence him during his second dressing down over his weight in the space of two days during the summer of 2016.
Nasri had been at City for five seasons when Guardiola arrived as manager but the new boss wasn’t at all happy with the midfielder’s physical condition.
It resulted in Nasri being loaned out to Sevilla that season, having played just one competitive game under Guardiola, and then being sold to Turkish club Antalyaspor.
‘I went into it with him from our first meetings,’ Nasri recalled to L’Equipe. ‘On the first day, he summoned me to his office and asked me: “What do you want to do?”
Samir Nasri fell out with Pep Guardiola in 2016 when the new Manchester City boss dropped him for being overweight
France international Nasri had been an important player for five seasons at City (left) but Guardiola sent him out on loan to Sevilla in 2016 (right)
‘I tell him: “It’s up to you to tell me if you’re counting on me.” He replied: “I’m counting on you if you’re really well in the head.”
‘Then I do my first training, everything is going well, he is happy with me. The next day, Pep summons me again and there he yells at me about my weight.
‘He found out because we were weighed every day. There, I said to him: “Reduce your voice, don’t yell at me, I’m not a child, I’m 29 years old.”
‘Maybe my holiday was an escape for me, a time to do what I wanted to do because I was coming out of a difficult season [a hamstring injury kept him sidelined for four months in 2015-16] and because in my personal life a lot of things happened.
‘And there, Pep answers me: “It’s true, I’m sorry.”
In the summer of 2016, Nasri was left out of two tour matches in China because of his weight issues.
At the time, Guardiola said: ‘Sami arrived a little bit overweight but he’s much better now. Still there is a little bit of weight. Last season he was injured and we want to avoid that.
‘The weight is so important. When you are not fit, danger is coming. You’re not fast enough or quick enough in the head.’
Nasri won two Premier League titles while a City player but was dropped by Guardiola
Guardiola was strict with his players after becoming City’s manager in the summer of 2016
Gael Clichy revealed at the time that Guardiola wouldn’t let anyone weighing over 70kg train with the team.
Nasri has previously said: ‘When I arrived Guardiola told me my weight should be 76kg. I had not weighed that since I played in Marseille, because in the Premier League there is always a programme to gain more muscle.
‘He wanted players to be thin and physical. I arrived with four kilograms more than I normally should have.
‘With Guardiola, if you have 2.5kg more, you can’t train with the group, so I trained by myself.’
Nasri has also previously revealed that Guardiola also banned players from having sex after midnight so they got enough sleep and avoided muscle injuries.
‘It is impossible to play good football if you don’t have sex with your partner. I would never forbid that. But if you’re doing it, you’d better play,’ he said.
Guardiola sent Nasri out on loan to Sevilla and City sold the midfielder the following summer
Guardiola comes up against his former City assistant Mikel Arteta again on Wednesday – someone else Nasri has been trained by.
‘The first year, Mikel was still a bit of a player, he took part in training with us. Then he took on more responsibilities,’ he said.
‘He explained the exercises very well, he was a passionate person who knew his subject.
‘I’m not surprised at what is happening to him today because even when he was a player, he was a real leader.’
