Jorge Sampaoli's side have won eight of their last 12 matches

But the Frenchman has flourised since joining Spanish side Sevilla on loan

Pre-season did not go well for Samir Nasri. His name was definitely on Pep Guardiola’s tactics board, but it was under the heading ‘must get shot of before the season starts’, somewhere between Yaya Toure and Joe Hart.

He failed to start a single pre-season friendly after failing City fitness coach Lorenzo Buenaventura’s strict summer speed and stamina tests . He was left out of City’s Champions League qualifier against Steaua Bucharest and despite a contract until 2019 he was told to look for a loan club.

There was no queue of takers either. An exceptional talent but now 29 and with a recent history of injuries, some controversy and a £160,000-a-week wage that would need to be shouldered or at least shared by his new club.

Samir Nasri has excelled in Spain after joining Sevilla on loan from Manchester City

Nasri has excelled after being moved back into the the centre of the pitch at Sevilla

Sevilla manager Jorge Sampaoli has made Nasri a crucial part of his setup this season

Sevilla stepped forward and so the French playmaker who once dazzled under Arsene Wenger at Arsenal but made just five starts for Manuel Pellegrini last season was sent down to southern Spain where new recruits either melt in the soaring Andalucian heat or find a new lease of life. The results have been spectacular.

If Sevilla win next weekend they will have recorded their greatest start to a season ever. After nine matches they are second and they were top briefly at the weekend until Real Madrid played and eked out a narrow victory.

Nasri has been central to everything.

Sevilla manager Jorge Sampaoli has put him back in the middle of the pitch from where he can direct the play and he has responded with match-winning displays.

‘At Marseille I always played as a central midfielder, sometimes deep-lying and sometimes further forward. Only when I went to Manchester City and a little bit at Arsenal did I play on the wing,’ Nasri said.

‘My favourite position is holding midfield because I can get on the ball and be at the centre of the team. I don’t like playing on the wing and if I have played there it is because the coach put me there because he thought that was best.’

Sampaoli has used him in a 4-2-3-1 alongside another former Premier League Frenchman Steven N’Zonzi and from there he has controlled games and shown a level of maturity lacking in so many of his recent campaigns.

Nasri spent his years at Marseille in the centre, only moving out wide when he came to England

The 29-year-old led Sevilla to the top of La Liga for a brief spell this weekend

But just to prove he still has the maverick spark too, he has also shone in a more advanced role. Sampaoli is nothing if not adventurous, some of his formations would make Guardiola frown and on Sunday against Diego Simeone’s previously unbeaten Atletico Madrid he played just behind the striker in a 3-3-3-1.

SAMIR NASRI AT SEVILLA Games played: 9 Goals: 3 Assists: 1 Pass Success Percentage: 90 Advertisement

He was man-of-the-match again hitting the post and flustering the usually unflappable Atletico defence.

Nasri has already scored three goals in this season and his domestic form has extended to the Champions League where despite being drawn in the same group as Juventus, Sevilla look like qualifying comfortably, which is more than can be said for the team he has left behind.

Does his form even suggest Guardiola was wrong to pack him off on a season’s adventure in La Liga? Probably not. But he’s certainly making the most of the chance to reinvent himself.

Guardiola swiftly decided there wasn't a place at Manchester City for Frenchman Nasri

Nasri has scored three times already this season and has also played in the Champions League

Sevilla’s brilliant director of football Monchi is fluent in French – so fluent he almost joined Paris Saint Germain in the summer, and may yet do so at the end of this season – and he sold the serial-Europa League winners to the 29-year-old.