Samir Nasri is determined to recapture his best form this season, for both club and country.
French ace keen to prove his worth after a frustrating 12 months
Samir Nasri is determined to recapture his best form this season, for both club and country.
The Arsenal midfielder endured a frustrating 2009/10 campaign, with niggling knocks preventing him from holding down a regular place in the side.
To top it all off, Nasri was then omitted from Raymond Domenech's France squad for the World Cup finals.
The 23-year-old playmaker admits he found the going tough for a while, but insists he is raring to go in 2010/11.
"I was very frustrated last season, being injured early on," Nasri told
L'Equipe.
"I needed time to get back to my best level. Then I wasn't called up for the World Cup.
"I missed football for two-and-a-half months. I had a lot of time to rest and ask myself questions. I am not hungry now, I am starving."
Reasons
Nasri added: "When I discovered that I wasn't part of the squad for the World Cup, I got a big slap in the face.
"The next day I had a chat with (Arsenal boss) Arsene Wenger and he reassured me.
"What really bothered me were the reasons given by some people. I was told that myself and Karim Benzema weren't chosen because we cause trouble.
"After seeing the strike (the French players' response to Nicolas Anelka being sent home from South Africa), I told myself: 'We haven't been called upon because we are troublemakers, what would have happened if we had been there?'
"Usually it is not good to be absent from such events, but not on this occasion. There is now an opportunity for those players who weren't at the World Cup.
"No-one has won in all of this though. We have become the laughing stock of world football."
