Thursday 28 July 2016 17:36, UK
Samir Nasri is battling to bring his weight in line with Pep Guardiola's standards at Manchester City.
The 29-year-old was the only high-profile City player not to feature in Thursday's International Champions Cup tie against Borussia Dortmund in China, which City won 6-5 on penalties.
Having missed much of last season with several injuries, the Frenchman is yet to feature in pre-season under Guardiola, prompting further questions over his fitness ahead of the new Premier League campaign.
However, the new City boss allayed those fears, confirming Nasri was left out to prevent the serious injuries that had plagued previous campaigns from hampering his ongoing weight-loss programme.
"Samir arrived back a little overweight but he is much, much better now," Guardiola told his post-match press conference.
"He has fought a lot during these weeks (in China) but he is a little bit overweight. Last season, he was overweight and had injuries all season and we want to avoid that.
"The players on the pitch are fit, their weight is in the right place to run 90 minutes; like Tosin (Oluwatosin Adarabioyo), Fernandinho or (Aleksandar) Kolarov.
"But hopefully in the next spirit he will be the right way."
Never one to shy away from confrontation, many were expecting Nasri's omission from Guardiola's provisional City squads to be followed by an outburst of sorts.
However, having made just 13 appearances last term for City, it would appear Nasri is willing to do everything he can to work his way into Guardiola's team.
Asked whether Nasri had responded well to the new fitness regime, the City boss replied: "Yes.
"I do not have any complaints about the team."
