Clubs: Olympique de Marseille, Arsenal FC, Manchester City FC

UEFA honours
UEFA European Under-17 Championship: winner 2004

• Like Zinédine Zidane, Nasri was born in Marseille of Algerian ancestry; joined his hometown club in 2000 and made his Ligue 1 debut on 12 September 2004 in a 2-0 defeat at FC Sochaux-Montbéliard.

• Won the Ligue 1 young player of the year award in 2006/07 and, after playing for various France youth teams and scoring the winner against Spain to clinch the UEFA European Under-17 Championship in 2004, he received his first senior call-up while still in his teens.

• Scored his first senior international goal on his third appearance – a crucial winner in a UEFA EURO 2008 qualifier against Georgia – but played just 28 minutes at the finals in Austria/Switzerland.

• After four seasons with Marseille, where the locals' admiration stretched to calling him the 'new Zidane', Nasri moved to Arsenal in 2008 and scored on his Premier League debut versus West Bromwich Albion FC.

• A starter in France's opening 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier in Austria, he was overlooked by coach Raymond Domenech for the final tournament but restored by Laurent Blanc for the start of UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying; at club level he contributed a career-best ten league goals in the 2010/11 season.

• Became the fourth player to leave Arsenal for Manchester City since 2009 − the others being Gaël Clichy, Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Touré − when he signed for the Citizens in August 2011 for a fee reportedly in the region of €27m.