#4 Samir Nasri
In terms of talent and quality, the former Arsenal and Manchester City schemer would be a shoe-in for the France squad no questions asked. Where Nasri’s case does take a hit is his suspect attitude, which is not always up to what is required of a professional footballer.
Case in point, he recently explained that ‘good food and nice girls’ were one of the reasons for him to make the move from Manchester City to Sevilla. Not that good food and nice girls is not reason enough, but moving from Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City to Sevilla is definitely a downgrade in footballing terms.
Nasri, who was once dubbed the “New Zinedine Zidane”, missed the 2010 World Cup in spite of being an integral part of an Arsenal side which finished third in the league. Then French coach, Raymond Domenech dropped Nasri for reasons of consistency along with stalwarts like Patrick Viera and Karim Benzema. What turned out was a soap opera of a World Cup campaign where France were knocked out in the first round and made more news for an off the pitch player revolt rather than on pitch footballing reasons.
Nasri featured in the 2012 Euro’s, but was again controversy’s child as he abused a French journalist after France were knocked out of the tournament. The 2014 World Cup was another setback for the Frenchman as he was dropped from the squad due to his inconsistent form and not being an integral part of the French setup. He subsequently retired from international football.
