Loaned to Sevilla from Manchester City despite Pep Guardiola wanting him to stay, Samir Nasri doesn’t regret the move, now loved by Sevilla fans and helping them chase more Champions League football when fit.
Even over 1500 miles or so away, the player caused a bit a controversy within the Premier League club when he claimed on French television that Guardiola banned his players from having sex before midnight.
The Manchester City manager quickly refuted these statements, which Onze Mondial put to the player during an interview for their magazine this month.
He said: “He said ‘I never banned players from having sex’. Yes, that’s true, but he told us to do it before midnight. After that, he can say what he wants. I know what he said, I was there. He asked us to do it before midnight.”
With that out of the way, the magazine also asked him whether or not Guardiola was as fascinating as people put him out to be.
He said: “Fascinating, I don’t know. That’s a big word. He knows his job, he’s good tactically. He changes the norm with his philosophy by following what Cruyff did and adding his own ingredients. Fascinating, no, but a great manager, for sure.”
Claiming to have no regrets in his career (so far), the player also dismissed the cliché that “footballers are stupid and have a lot of money” because ‘there are different types of intelligence’.
He said: “Some might be illiterate, but in the street, they’re very intelligent. You can’t trick them. Others have done years of studies, yet… they’re good in theory, but not when it comes to putting it in practice. You can’t generalise. There’s stupid people everywhere. It’s a cliché, that’s how it is.”
As for himself, Nasri had this to say: “I’m not stupid, and I have money.”
