Manchester City midfielder Samir Nasri has insisted that Arsene Wenger is the best coach he has worked with during his career to date.

Nasri played for three years under Wenger at Arsenal before leaving to join City in a deal worth £24m.

The French midfielder has taken a swipe at City boss Roberto Mancini by declaring that Wenger understood him better as a player and blasted comments that he has not put in his maximum effort this season.

He said: "If I'd worked with Wenger at Manchester City, maybe I would have avoided some problems.

"Mancini showed bad faith in his comments. He is exaggerating. He doesn't necessarily speak all that good English so sometimes his comments are a bit raw. When he said I trained at 50%, that wasn't true.

"Arsene Wenger is the one who understood me most, with whom I had the greatest affinity. I'm very grateful to him as he signed me after perhaps my worst season at Marseille when I had a bout of meningitis. He played a huge role in my career."

The 25-year-old also stated in an interview with beIn Sport that Wenger was forced to sell him in 2011 by Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke.