When it was first announced that West Ham United were looking to sign Samir Nasri it is fair to say the reaction was mixed.
The playmaker, who won the Premier League title with Manuel Pellegrini at Manchester City, was banned from football for a doping offence and his career looked to be in ruins.
But his relationship with Pellegrini and West Ham’s Premier League-worst injury list has offered the former France star a shot at redemption.
Many supporters feel Nasri was finished at the top level. The Hammers have also been trolled by rival fans over a signing they feel is typical of the East Londoners.
Candid Nasri showing new maturity
Others are worried about Nasri’s attitude having made the front pages as often as the back pages over his career.
Whether it was kicking up a stink to get a move from Arsenal to Man City, rows at international level which cost him his France place, problems in his personal life, getting sent off for Sevilla in the Champions League or his doping ban. The list is pretty damning.
But in a candid interview with West Ham’s official website Nasri insists he has matured and realises just how lucky he is to be given a second chance.
It is a chance he intends to grasp with both hands.
“I’m really happy that West Ham and Manuel Pellegrini have given me a chance to be playing again,” Nasri told West Ham TV.
‘I cried, I thought it was over, I’m lucky to have a second chance’
“I had some really tough moments when I was really down. Mentally I’m really strong, but for maybe the first time in my life, I cried about my career because I thought it was over. I’m 31-years-old now and I’m more mature. If it was five years ago maybe I would have some problem with it or talk too much about it.
“When you’ve been out for a year and you think it’s over, you think completely differently after that. I was just looking on TV and I wasn’t able to train, and in the meantime, I had a son.
“A lot of things have changed in my life, and for the best. I’m really happy about it.
“I’m just blessed, I’m lucky to have a second chance. Not everyone in life has a second chance and I do. I know I will give 100 per cent.
“Now I just want to focus on the positive and the good; being back on the pitch, doing what I love the most, with a good team. That’s all that matters to me.”
Nasri looks lean, sounds keen and has all the talent to succeed if he applies himself.
His arrival comes at the perfect time for Pellegrini who has been shorn of the likes of Manuel Lanzini, Andriy Yarmolenko and Jack Wilshere.
This could just be a case of the right people coming together at the right time at the right club.
Time will tell.
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