Former Arsenal and Manchester City star Samir Nasri has made a shocking revelation about the early days of his football career. The former France midfielder revealed that he played under an alias for two years to avoid age restrictions in children's football.
During an appearance on former rapper K-Mel's podcast, Nasri spoke about his unusual first steps in his career. The former Marseille and Premier League player surprised the host by admitting that he started playing football with a fake license.
"I started with a fake license, playing under someone else's name," Nasri confessed. The reason was simple: he was only four years old, while the French Football Federation's rules stipulated that children had to be at least five or six years old to register in the U6 category. To get him on the field as early as possible, his local club decided to take an extraordinary solution.
Nasri revealed that for two seasons he played under the name Alexandre Maras. According to him, the club found a boy from the neighborhood who was old enough to have a license and then used that identity to register him.
"They took a boy from my neighborhood who was old enough for a license, and for two seasons I played under the name Alexandre Maras," said the former France international.
The deception required constant vigilance so that the young talent would not make a mistake in front of officials. Nasri recalled that people around him would constantly repeat his fake name to him before matches.
"They would say to me: 'You look French,' and I played under this fake name until I was old enough to have a license. In matches they would repeat to me: 'Don't forget, your name is Alexandre,'" he said.
But "Alexandre Maras" did not stay in the shadows for long. His talent was quickly noticed and the big French clubs began to follow him closely.
After two seasons at Pennes-Mirabeau, Nasri joined Marseille. "I signed with Marseille at the age of nine and at the age of 13 I entered the training center," he explained.
Although he started out with a pseudonym, Nasri's belief in his abilities was evident from an early age. He said that he had dreamed of a career as a professional footballer since the age of seven, and it was at the age of 13 that he realised he had the potential to make it big.
"Since the age of seven I wanted to make a career in football, but at the age of 13 I realized that there could be something serious. This became even clearer when I joined the France U16 team," Nasri said.
His move to Marseille also came with considerable financial support for such a young player. Nasri admitted that the club offered him special treatment to keep him in the team. He revealed that from the age of 13 he was receiving 5 francs a month, an amount that is now around 1,153 euros.
In addition, his family received a large sum to help with his development and logistics. Nasri said his parents received a check for 150 francs, about 34,605 euros in today's value, "to buy a car."
Before the family bought the car, Marseille was so determined to make training easier for the young talent that they even provided him with a private driver to take him to and from training sessions. /GazetaExpress/
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