Manchester City midfielder Samir Nasri has strongly denied allegations that he is involved in the Mathieu Valbuena sex tape scandal.
French publication Le Monde had linked the 28-year-old to the case earlier this week by saying that he was aware that his former international teammate was being blackmailed over the tape.
The Le Monde report claims that Nasri had denied any direct involvement in the case but explain that their source said that the Man City midfielder played a part in the ongoing incident.
But Nasri has hit back at the report in an interview with RMC Sport.
“Someone from “Le Monde” newspaper contacted me to ask for a reaction,” he said.
“I told him what I thought. But I have not managed to read what was said.
“I will have a discussion with him [Valbuena]. I honestly do not care about this sex tape story.
“It is not my problem, not my situation. If he wants to mix it all together because I know people who have been cited and if he is saying that I wanted to be implicated, it is his right to think that.
“In any case, he has no right to dirty my name or to cite it if I am nowhere.
“He could have seen that there was not a single wiretap that concerned me. I do not speak to the people concerned.”
Nasri did not deny knowing two men believed to be involved in the case – Mustapha Zouaoui and Axel Angot.
“Yes, I know Mustapha Zouaoui. I grew up in the same place as him,” he added.
“He knows my family but we have not spoken for eight years. I therefore do not see how my name could have come up in this.
“And Axel, I knew him practically at the same time at Mathieu.
“It is he who trusted them, who had a relationship with them and he is the one who has been duped.
“In no case do I want my name to be associated with them because I do not speak to them.
“My name has nothing to do with this case.
“If they had come up with a plan to bring out names and mine because they know me, that reflects on them.
“But that Mathieu does not put me in it. I have never called him. I do not want him to put my name into this situation.”
“If my name is really cited in this case or if I had been implicated in the wiretaps, I think that they would have already called me up.
“There is no free pass in this affair. Karim Benzema plays for Real and he was called up.
“We shouldn’t speak about an intermediary because I am not implicated. What would I do in a sex tape affair?
“I have done very, very, very well for myself. If a friend really needs money, I give it to him.
“If he needs €50,000 or €100,000, I will give him the money because he is my friend.
“I am a footballer. I am neither a thug nor an intermediary, nor a blackmailer, nothing at all.”
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