And, while City’s ferocious training regime might come as a shock after the cotton-wool philosophy of Arsenal – as it did to Gael Clichy – Nasri will not be fazed by the rough stuff.
The French midfielder is on the verge of joining the Blues after a protracted summer transfer, perhaps the final piece in a gilt-edged jigsaw, and one which could give City a real edge in the chase for a first league title in 44 years.
And what City will get when he stops ‘edging closer’ and actually puts his name on the dotted line is the latest in a list of Marseille street footballers who have turned their alleyway expertise into true star quality.
Zinedine Zidane tops that list, and another man who made his mark in Manchester, Eric Cantona, also figures.
Nasri baulks at the obvious comparisons with Zidane, a label which was attached to him at an early age. Both are from the hard-edged southern port of Marseille, both are of Algerian descent, and Nasri has many of Zidane’s brilliant footballing qualities.
And the latter is why City are about to splash out £25m for a man who has just one year left on his Arsenal contract, and could have been snapped up for nothing next summer.
For City, next summer is an eon away. They are going for it this season, and Nasri could be the man to transform their midfield.
There is little wrong with the Blues’ engine room at the moment.
Nigel de Jong is perhaps the best defensive midfielder in the world. Gareth Barry is possibly the most under-rated player at the club, a man whose unspectacular and often shrewd work allows more gifted players to strut their stuff without fear of embarrassment and with plenty of supply.
Yaya Toure combines a gigantic physical influence with tremendous subtlety, linking play from back to front, and often carrying the attack to the opposition single-handedly.
And then there is David Silva, slick, quick and dangerous as he dances in the spaces which defences did not know were there.
Perhaps the only criticism last season was that with de Jong and Barry as a conventional midfield pair in a 4-2-3-1 set-up, City sometimes lacked pace and flair in that area.
De Jong is a destructive force par excellence, Barry a tireless worker and good give-and-go merchant. Neither is quick.
That would indicate that Barry is vulnerable to Nasri’s arrival, if Roberto Mancini plans to field the French ace in his preferred central role.
But Mancini loves players who can slot into several positions, and Nasri is just such an asset.
When he was a stripling of a kid at Marseille, he was employed as a deep-lying midfielder or sometimes shunted onto the wing, as he did not always have the physicality to cope in the midfield minefield.
But as he bulked up, he was converted into a playmaker, strong enough, quick enough and talented enough to hack it.
He can play in a 4-3-3 as a wide man, a position in which Arsene Wenger often preferred to play him, as he felt it offered the best chance for him to damage teams with his pace and superb dribbling ability.
It was from there that he inflicted serious damage on City last season as the Gunners inflicted City’s heaviest home defeat in the Sheikh Mansour era.
Linking effortlessly with Andrei Arshavin, Nasri ripped open the City left flank and crashed in the opening goal of a 3-0 win, finally capping a man of the match performance by setting up Nicklas Bendtner for the third.
But Wenger also did not hesitate to drop Nasri into the heart of his team when Cesc Fabregas was absent, and Mancini will also ponder that option.
Arsenal had hoped that the departure of Fabregas earlier this week might change Nasri’s mind, as he would finally get to be the main man in central midfield but it seems, unless Nasri has a spectacular volte-face, that their hope is forlorn.
The player is, like Carlos Tevez and Sergio Aguero, a boy from the barrios, who knows the taste of a wooden spoon and was elevated above the fetid heat of the slums by his ability with a football.
He was picked up by Marseille at nine, drafted into the French national youth system at 14 and three years later was scoring the late winner in the European Under-17 Championships final to see off the Spain of Gerard Pique and Fabregas.
Arsenal slipped in ahead of a host of other top European clubs in 2008 and Nasri marked his debut with a lively display and the winner against West Bromwich Albion.
He has continued to add to his game during his Arsenal days, and last season had the best goalscoring record of his career, netting 15 in 46 games, a haul which helped to push him into the PFA Team of the Year and onto the short-lists for their Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year.
The point that Nasri continues to try to learn his trade was well made by Arsenal’s chief French scout Gilles Grimandi who played a big part in getting him to the Emirates three years ago.
“Samir is a student of football – he lives for the game,” said the ex-Arsenal player. “He loves training and watches game after game on TV. He uses things he has seen to help correct mistakes in his own game.
“When you genuinely love football this is what makes the difference.”
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Plus he wants to play for MANCHESTER City and Not Salford United like the bias Daily" Cracked and Broken" Mirror stated this morning.
And before a rag comes on and says why did I buy the paper then I didn't it was on the news.
If what I've read in the papers is correct with regards to him preferring Utd to City, then I would pull the plug on the transfer deal, right now.
LETS GET HIM ON BOARD ASAP
Would have preferred Utd, sack the deal now !!!!
For me this buy along with Aguero is the most exciting time since Sheikh Mansour invested into this wonderful Club.
Our midfield has not been aggressive or quick enough in my opinion, giving away too much possession and therefore raising the confidence of our opponents.
Barry is not a bad player but without doubt Nasri is better and if we are serious about challenging for top honours this season, this area of our team needs addressing now that left back has been addressed.
Surely now with all this potential goal scoring Talent,Mancini will take the 'brake off' and let these talented players show what they can do especially against the those teams who will finish out side of the top six.
We now have the players to become one of the most attractive teams to watch in World football, Barcelona have shown that attacking football wins trophies,we should now follow their lead!
If it's Algerians you want to talk about, there's only one name to mention and that's Ali Benarbia.
Oi! Brennan! NO!
Cantona made his mark in Yorkshire then headed over to Salford. He never played in Manchester. FFS what is wrong with this man?
Get him signed Blues, whats with all the dithering!
Silva, Aguero and Nasri what a combination
CTID
When is this saga going to be sorted? I hope Samir hasn't changed his mind now that Fabregas has gone.
It will be wonderful to see him and Silva and Aguero playing alongside each other, there will be enough creativity between the three of them to rip open any team that comes to the Etihad with the sole intention of sitting back, hoping to get away with a draw.
On another note, I've just seen Mourinho's finger poke into an eye of one of the Barcelona coaches following Real Madrid's defeat to Barca (on the Daily Mail website). I for one have lost all respect for this man, I sincerely hope we never see such a disgraceful loser managing our team, in fact he's perfect for Yoonited, he shows the same arrogance and disrespect for his opponents as does BaconFace, so they're perfect for each other.
Contrast Mourinho's performance and arrogant attitude with out wonderful manager, who is always diplomatic and never disrespectful when he loses to his opponents, it just goes to show we really do a have a class manager in Roberto!
Long may he continue to manage our wonderful club!
When you have players like Aguerro, Silva and (hopefully) Nasri its the fluidity their skills offer that is the real bonus. The hacks will doubtlessly drone on about us having to squeeze Nasri in somewhere but the fact is the really good footballers chop and change positions throughout the match.
Picture a midfield and attack made up of De-Jong, Yaya, Nasri, Silva, Aguerro and Dzeko. Now once you've stopped drooling imagine that lot attacking the opposition, what a great mix of talents and all with fantastic technique and awareness. AJ, Mario, Milner and Barry (who played great on monday) will certainly play their part and some guy called Carlos may still figure.
The point is Mancini has made us so strong when we dont have the ball and that will be the key, having the defence to back up that insane attack. If we can keep disciplined when defending our midfielders and forwards should be able to interchange positions as the game/opportunities to push forward dictate...........
Some of the prose here may be a bit much, but overall, another lovely submission by Mr. B. Best of all, it is (gasp!) an original piece of writing by a MEN staffperson.
Stuart Brennan continues to be the best thing, by far, that the MEN Sports department has going for it.
Has he signed yet ? .... Zzzzz....
The final piece of Bobby Mancs jigsaw!
By the way, what has Cantona got to do with the purchase of Nasri? You just couldn't help yourself,could you MUEN?
I don't think anyone in the midfield is vulnerable except perhaps Milner, who's not truly found a position. All the others, including Nasri, each bring something a bit different.
Just couldn't do it could you Stuart? Get through one article on City without discovering a United angle. In fact for me your credibility went with the Cantona shoe in. I don't expect this to get posted as its on the City pages.
Dear The Pink
I have enjoyed waiting around outside the newsagents around six o’clock on a Saturday for many years now, in anticipation of the Manchester Evening News van dropping off the Pink, and then reading the match report along with the weeks letters in the postbag.
But times change, and I bet that by 2011, we will not have to wait a week to have any comments regarding our club published …. There again !!
When Samir finally signs for us we will have a mixture of tough,resillient,skillful,and passionate players in our squad, a group of players may I add that will competing on all four fronts for most of the season.
Mancini I have to say is gradually getting it right but nevertheless we must all keep our heads,not get carried away and hope this great progress is maintained.
With a potential 60 or more games in our agenda this season every squad member will get a fair share of games I'm sure but whatever the 'rags' think or say I now believe that THE FUTURE IS SKY BLUE!
This has to be the most protracted transfer in the history of football..... Talk about a watched pot!
So you were his fourth choice Berties.....how does that make you feel ? L.U.H.C..........
A lot of comments in the last 24 hours about Nasri really wanting to go to Utd ( Like Silva, Ballotelli, Milner Dzeko wanted to) and more, even one other paper this morning was having a right go at City about how we are not building a team like Cloughie did etc, how utd bought on player at a time and built their squad.
These people never learn do they?
I give Fergie One thing he does not get caught up in any of this transfer drivel, not any more anyway, he was clear weeks ago, Nasri has decided to sign for someone else
But still they protest.
Bottom line We just don’t care, because we are able to process these comments and put them in the context they deserve.
The comments have even had many fans I have spoken to in stitches as it is apparent how it is physically hurting others to see Nasri sign for City, when all summer you could not turn a paper or listen to the tv or radio trying to sell Nasri to utd.
The more I hear about nasri wanted to sign for Utd the sweeter this stage in our project tastes.
Thank you City for letting Utd know not to get in our way, these days repeatedly more often than not, we sign who we want.
CTID
A large article about a (yet still) Arsenal player.
Think you quite like this guy, Stuart!
You couldn't have have written a more glowing report even if you had been his agent!!
Can't see Gareth Barry being overly impressed with your analysis for midfield, though!
TTFN
Ive actually lost interest in this saga now. If he signs - great, if not - so be it.