THIS IS THE BEST FEELING OF MY LIFE.. I FEARED I’D NEVER PLAY AGAIN
Nasri so grateful for ‘second chance’ after drugs ban
SAMIR NASRI feared he would never play football again after an 18-month anti-doping ban left him on the verge of depression. But as West Ham’s paroled Frenchman enjoyed a winning return against his old club – with an asterisk against his name – in his first Premier League appearance for two and-a-half years, Nasri ignored the taunts and counted his blessings.
He set up birthday boy Declan Rice, 20 today, for his first goal in senior football to give the Hammers only their second win in 22 meetings with the Gunners.
Asterisk the Gaul was banned for receiving intravenous treatment at a Los Angeles clinic while on holiday in December 2016, when he was on loan at Sevilla from Manchester City.
Nasri silenced the taunts of Arsenal fans who never forgave him for joining the legion of Gunners fugitives at City in 2011 and said: “After 13 months out, it was the best feeling of my life to be back and winning.
“I thought I’d lost it at some point – that I would never play football again – but finally it happened, and everything was great.
“It’s not that it was boring being out for so long, but I started to
question myself, whether I would be able to play football again.
“At the start they gaE months, but on the last day to appeal they appealed and UEFA asked for two years and WADA asked for four years. When you’re 30 years old, you think your career is over because no one
is going to give you a chance after a four-year ban.
“It was almost like being depressed – thank God my family, friends and new-born son were there for me. It gave me something to look forward to. I knew I would find another club, but maybe not in the Premier League. “After losing one year, I didn’t want to go somewhere exotic – I just wanted to get back to doing what I do best, and proving that I’d still got it.”
And the jeers from Arsenal fans? They were bathwater off a rubber duck’s back to Nasri.
He sneered: “Five years ago I would have been into all that controversy – I would have answered them or done something – but today I just try to enjoy every moment because I have a second chance. Not everyone in life gets a second chance.”
Nasri’s old club were as anaemic as their pallid “aquamarine” blue away kit. The honeymoon’s over for Unai Emery at Arsenal, and that 22-match unbeaten run before Christmas – which included its fair share of streaky home wins – is already a distant memory.
Emery thought they would cope with £350,000-a-week Mesut Ozil not even in the squad and Lucas Torreira, their best player this season, on the bench. He was sorely mistaken.
Mark Noble and Rice mopped up everything in midfield, and even the sight of striker Marko Arnautovic apparently waving goodbye when substituted, amid big-money interest from China, could not dampen the euphoria around the Taxpayers Stadium. Hammers skipper Noble said: “There is no doubt in my mind that if Declan stays here, he will captain West Ham at some point.
“I know he has just started a fiveyear contract, but that doesn’t seem to mean a lot these days.
“If someone is prepared to pay the money, there is always a price.
“I spoke to Marko yesterday and he told me, ‘Whatever happens is out of my hands, but as long as I play for this team I will give 100 per cent.’
“He’s got a reputation for being maybe a little bit sulky, but let me tell you Marko is a great lad around the dressing room.
“Do we hope he doesn’t go? Of course not – he’s probably our best player.
“We didn’t keep Dimi Payet when he was our best player at the time, and I’m hoping this one works out a bit different.
“But the money in China is a different kettle of fish.”