In 2004, Nasri and his gifted peers were thrown into the spotlight when they won the under-17 European championship, prompting much excited discussion about their future promise.
Six years on, however, none of them took part in the World Cup in South Africa and French fans are still waiting for many of them to live up to that promising start.
AS Roma's Jeremy Menez, also 23, is showing glimpses of his skills after a few seasons of underachievement.
"They still need to improve in a lot of areas," former French ace Jean-Pierre Papin told Reuters when asked about the 2004 generation. "They need to play more with their clubs, score more goals. France does not have any players at the best level yet."
"At the moment, they are not at the top of the game," added former World Cup winner Christian Karembeu. "They need to be more consistent."
Before his Champions League hat-trick against Auxerre last week, he had managed just three goals in all competitions this season. In October, he was even declared "dead" by sports newspaper Marca after a poor display in the King's Cup.
"Karim has to understand that he is not playing by himself, that he has to be more of a team player and work really hard, especially in training", Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho told www.fifa.com.
"I expect a lot from him," Mourinho added. "I want him to be as good as or even better than the player I first saw at Lyon. I know how gifted he is and that is why I push him."
"The mental side of my game is improving and I am getting more consistent. I have made mistakes but I have learned from them, and when you are young you think that you know everything," he told the media.
Question marks remain however over Lyon's Yoann Gourcuff, dubbed "the new Zidane" when still a teenager. Since his brilliant 2008-09 season with Bordeaux,
