There's so many kids out there and it's such a cut-throat world. I've seen a lot of my mates, you know, who are better players than me at a certain age, and they're not in football now.

I loved being in America. It was a great experience. People will be drawn to China because of the money but the lifestyle, everything about America, I couldn't recommend it enough.

In terms of not retiring? I don't want to leave and think to myself, "Maybe I should have stayed a bit longer". I'm dwelling on it. I have turned down a few Premier League offers. But the fact is, after being at Chelsea for so long and a year with Manchester City, I don't want to get involved in a relegation dogfight.

I fancy our chances at the European Championships.

I was always pretty good at school, but a lot of it was memorising, maybe cheating off your mates, stuff that gets you through.

I remember being in West Ham's youth team and seeing Jody Morris play for Chelsea at 17 and you scoring for Liverpool on your debut when you were 18. I was watching it on Soccer Saturday and I was like, "I can't believe he's scored!" It's professional jealousy. It's best to be honest about it. It gave me real desire. I was thinking "God I want that to be me".

Remember every team wants to beat Chelsea, probably even more than Manchester United or Arsenal because they believe we have an unfair advantage.