Former Arsenal French midfielder Samir Nasri has announced his retirement from football at the age of 34.
Nasri made his name with Marseille before moving to Arsenal for a fee of £12million in 2008 where he spent three seasons.
He joined Manchester City in 2011 for £25m and helped the team win two Premier League titles and the FA Cup over six years with the club.
He has played for Turkish side Antalyaspor, West Ham and Anderlecht over the past four years, but has been working as a pundit on French television since being released by the Belgian club last year.
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Nasri has now officially announced his retirement via an interview in a French newspaper, in which he blames one particular incident for his decline over recent years.
“An episode hurt me very badly and changed my relationship with football: my suspension,” he told Le Journal du Dimanche .
“I found that more than unfair. I had not taken any doping products. It was just an injection of vitamins because I was sick. It cut me off in my tracks.”
Nasri was given a six-month ban from football in February 2018 after being found guilty of a doping violation which occurred two years beforehand.
While on loan with Sevilla from Man City, Nasri visited a Los Angeles clinic called Drip Doctors where he received 500 millilitres of hydration in the form of sterile water containing micronutrient components.
The midfielder posted about the treatment on his social media accounts, writing he was having the drip “to help keep him hydrated and in top health during his busy soccer season.”
However, the treatment was subsequently found to have been a “prohibited method” by Uefa and in violation of the World Anti-Doping Code.
By the time the judgement came in Nasri was without a club, having seen his contract with Antalyaspor terminated, but he did return to the pitch with West Ham for the second half of the 2018/19 season.
