A new club is like having a new girlfriend – you don't have feelings straight away

My Dad was briefly an Everton player and I used to follow them as a boy.

A lot of people have lost interest in watching England play. To get motivated to watch international football, you need your country to be having some form of success and England haven't had any for a long time now.

An emotion that lives with me is a sense of what might have been had injuries not robbed me of my most lethal weapon - speed.

I loved [Real Madrid]. It was a real experience, playing with a great team. One of the first questions I'm often asked is 'What was Madrid like?' It's got that mystique about it. It's a magical place and a magical team, and everything about it is great.

You always come back to earth with a thump at some stage. Life has it's ups and downs; the acid test is how you handle the downs.

I don't want to be modelling G-strings. It's not that good for my image – I'm a footballer not a tart