Ex-Arsenal playmaker: I was not myself last season but I have since grown up

Samir Nasri

Manchester City midfielder Samir Nasri has admitted that he made a mistake and shouldn’t have shut himself away last season.

The Frenchman started just 22 Premier League matches and scored twice under Roberto Mancini as the Italian became frustrated over Nasri’s poor form.

Despite ending 2011/12 on a high note, winning the league, he lost his temper to a French journalist after his country were knocked out of Euro 2012. He was subsequently banned from the national set up.

Nasri was also roundly blamed for his part in Robin van Persie’s late winner in the Manchester derby last December and struggled to pick up his form and mentality for the remainder of the season.

“It was a little difficult. In my head, I wasn’t the same. I didn’t play well for City and lost my spot in the squad and, at the end of the year, you look at your season and you realise, ‘I was not myself’,” he told the Independent.

Nasri also dismissed the attentions of his parents who tried to get him to speak about his problems.

“At the time, I refused to speak to them,” he added. “I didn’t want to talk or explain myself. I didn’t want to talk about the situation because it was really difficult and it was inside me.

“So you spend all the time thinking. Sometimes when you do mistakes, you don’t want to admit it. That was my biggest mistake. Keeping things to yourself is never good.

“So I talked to the people I love and I decided to smile and be happy and do what I do best – playing football, and that is it.

“As a player, as a person, I grew up a lot. I know my mistakes now, and I know what to do to make it right.”

Nasri is the leading assist maker in the Champions League this season with four. Angel Di Maria, of Real Madrid, also has four.