Manchester City attacking midfielder Samir Nasri has expressed his gratitude towards the fans for their support during his time out with a long term injury.

Nasri has been sidelined for a large chunk of the current campaign after tearing his muscle on his thigh as well as damaging his tendon back in October and the Frenchman is still continuing his rehabilitation process.

Now Nasri is hopeful of making a return back to full fitness in March and has gone on to thank the club faithful for the support they have shown on social media during his time on the sidelines.

The 28-year-old told the club's official website: "I got a lot of nice messages from City fans on my Twitter and Instagram which I'm really appreciative of.

"The supporters have been fantastic towards me when I've gone to the games as well, they've been wishing me well and if we have a defeat or a draw, I get more nice words saying 'we miss you' and stuff like that and it makes me feel good and that I'm still wanted and that sort of thing.

"I believe in god and that everything happens for a reason and for me, a lot of things happened at the same time so I was like, 'OK, cool. I'm not going to be depressed about it –, I've got an injury but these things happen so I'm going to work as hard as possible and come back as soon as I can and be there for my team-mates'. That's how I approached this.

"The only downside is, sometimes I get a little frustrated because I will hear people talking about the game we've just played and stuff like that and it's kind of hard, but that's the only thing that is really tough."