“I only deal in what is real. To be honest, I’ve never thought about what I could get out of football or where it would take me. I just wanted to play. I’m the same now.”

It was tough at the time but when I was younger, my Dad. I would say my Dad, because without him I wouldn’t have been here. I mean it was tough for me because he was really demanding. With him, it was never enough, you know, anything I did was never enough.

Sometimes in football you have to score goals.

That’s the way I’ve been educated: I always think about what I missed and the things that you did, you did them, so you don’t have to think about them any more.

So many people say that obviously my game has changed since I arrived here and I say that it’s good that it changed, otherwise it would show a lack of intelligence.

We all love the first Rocky, but I’m not too sure about the last one.

Barcelona is always a club that, at the beginning of the season, wants to win everything. I will try my best to do that with them and I’m sure I will help as much as I can.

I would love this place to be my garden. (on Arsenal’s old stadium)

I can’t think of a striker in the world who has scored so many important goals, never mind a midfielder.

I have the possibility to watch Messi in training each morning, and because of what he demonstrates he is the best player in the world

At the end of the day, you either want or you don’t want to know about it. It’s a mercy thing – you have to give back. However you do it, you have to give something back. You have to.

In football you always get judged on your last game. Whoever you are, or how amazing you are, it’s the last game that everyone has seen.

There are many things I want, and the only way I will get them is to keep my head down, listen to the right people and work hard.

Because that’s just the way it is, and don’t sleep on what you did before, you know, because it can not hurt you, but you can find yourself sleeping on something that happened in the past, but you dare to progress and there is always room for progression.

Sometimes being young and confident is better than being old with experience.When I was young I wasn’t scared about anything.

You kind of never leave Arsenal. How many comebacks do you make? At one point it will turn out to be a bad move. We all love the first Rocky but I’m not too sure about the last one.

I eat football, I sleep football. I am not mad I am just passionate.

The hardest thing to cope with is not selfishness or vanity or deceitfulness, but sheer stupidity.

Learners inherit the earth; while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.

The interest of the dealers, however, in any particular branch of trade or manufactures, is always in some respects different from, and even opposite to, that of the public. To widen the market and to narrow the competition, is always the interest of the dealers.

He who gives up shyness in monetary dealings, in acquiring knowledge, in eating and in business, becomes happy.

Whatever obstacle comes your way, you gotta be prepared to jump over it! And I think that’s what separates the legends from the regular artists. It’s all in how you manage that success, and how you deal with the controversy when it actually comes.

We made a plan at school to meet in her garage and kiss. It was like this little business deal. I kissed her and then I ran home

If you have men who will exclude any of God’s creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.

Anytime you’re with somebody, you become a reflection of that person. I believe the first five years of our relationship was me grooming her, getting her tough and getting her ready for all of this and how to deal with it. The last was just her being a strong Black woman who has her man’s back.