Yaya Toure has told RMC that Manchester City teammate Samir Nasri is feeling low away from France's national team, and says the Bleus outcast "really loves his country."
Nasri, 27, announced in August he was retiring from international football after missing out on France's 2014 World Cup campaign, despite an excellent season with City as they lifted the Premier League title.
France boss Didier Deschamps suggested the former Arsenal and Marseille midfielder would have been in his 23-man selection to go to Brazil based on talent alone, but hinted Nasri would have been a disruptive influence off the pitch in South America.
In response, Nasri -- who won the last of his 41 caps with a poor display in France's World Cup playoff first-leg 2-0 defeat in Ukraine last November -- declared he would no longer be available for selection.
Toure, 31, backed Nasri's character and behaviour, and admitted the playmaker was suffering from his self-imposed international exile.
"It's true that it's not easy at the moment," Toure said. "Samir is a very nice person. He's a little bit like my brother, I'm very close to him. He really loves his country.
"Youth meant he had some difficult moments. He expressed himself a little awkwardly. He has acknowledged he was wrong. He's explained himself several times. He's a great guy and a very positive person."
Nasri was banned for three international matches by the French Football Federation after the player insulted a journalist following France's Euro 2012 quarterfinal exit, and he did not return to Les Bleus' squad for more than a year after the incident.