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Nasri: No way back under Deschamps

Samir Nasri announced in earlier in the month he was quitting international football © Getty Images

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Manchester City midfielder Samir Nasri has acknowledged his international career is over as long as Didier Deschamps remains in charge of the France national team.

Nasri, 27, announced in early August he was quitting international football after missing out on a second successive World Cup.

He emphasised the fact that Deschamps, who will be in charge until Euro 2016 at least after leading them to the World Cup quarter-finals, was unlikely to pick him again after the France boss had implicitly stated the Nasri did not go to Brazil as he was a bad influence on a squad during a final tournament.

"The horizon is a little bit blocked with Didier Deschamps as manager," Nasri told Canal+ after City's 2-0 Premier League win over Newcastle United on Sunday. "I respect his choices, but the French national team doesn't make me happy any more. If each time I go there, it's to have controversy or problems, I don't want to make things worse.

"I will commit myself to my club. I have signed a new contract, and I'll try to do my utmost for my club. It's a disappointment, but that's the way it is."

Though Deschamps remains a significant obstacle to Nasri attempting to add to his 41 caps, the last of which was picked up with a colourless display in France's World Cup play-off first-leg defeat in Ukraine in November, he also highlighted the role French media played in his decision.

"After Euro 2012, I had thought about it a little bit. My dad told me to continue," Nasri said, who was given a three-match ban for insulting a journalist at Euro 2012, a suspension which led to a year-long international exile.

"I tried to do everything on the pitch to play at the World Cup. It wasn't enough. And each time, there are stories off the pitch: a problem with this one or that one or with a journalist. I'm sick of hearing things like that. It makes my family suffer, and I don't want them to suffer. It's better to take that decision and stop."

Prior to the World Cup, RMC reported four French players - Olivier Giroud, Laurent Koscielny, Mathieu Valbuena and Nasri's new City team-mate Bacary Sagna - had asked Deschamps to leave Nasri out.

That, coupled with being left at home to watch the 2010 and 2014 World Cups on TV, has left Nasri scarred.

"I have already experienced two disappointments," he added. "It hurts. You have to be in our position to understand. I don't want to go back to the national team and play the hypocrite when some of them asked for me to be kicked out.

"I'm not interested in that, I don't want to do that. I don't pretend; I'm honest. Sometimes that causes a problem; I always say what I think. But I also have my pride."

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