Tottenham tried to sign me but I held off and came to Arsenal because Arsene Wenger was here.

When you see what is happening with the social network, with Facebook, Twitter and co it is becoming obvious that the reputation of ourselves is becoming more and more important everyday. Image is becoming too much for me, and we are living in a virtual world and sometimes it is very easy to make mistakes. It is more difficult to take responsibility for our mistakes.

If you want to be a professional footballer, you have to respect your profession. You have to respect the people that are making you the star you are. You have to protect the passion every day.

I want to keep my own guard, I want to keep my secrets, I want to keep my private life for me.

I'm convinced, that when you are a footballer you are a symbol. You have to be a superman in some ways, to send messages to people all the time, to the youth all the time.

Being a footballer is not just about wearing the shirt and playing football on the pitch. You have to be clean, you have to do right things, you have to show courage, you have to show many many things you know. I always say that you play the same way on the pitch as you do in life.

You have to grow the same way that you're seeing your own kids grow.