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I think we've got a lot players in the squad who are more suited to European football at the moment.

The Premier League is so difficult.

As with Cesc Fabregas, some players who go and play for foreign clubs improve on a cultural level. It makes them grow on many levels; intellectually, because you have to learn a new language and adapt to another culture, and on a footballing level too.

The Champions League is a big ambition, and all the footballers want to play in it; it is a very important competition.

Why is playing football in Europe considered the pinnacle of our game, yet in other spheres of life, that same phrase - 'being in Europe' - is dismissed with suspicion?

Even all the top players going to Europe to play helps soccer in America, as do all the MLS players like Beckham and all that, they're trying to promote it. At the end of the day it's about getting the younger generation interested at an early age so most of them will move on and play.

Of course, the best thing, if you play in the Premier League, you can always develop further as a player, and you are playing against the best players. You are also playing game after game all the time, two or three games a week.

The Premier League is one of the most difficult in the world. There's five, six, or seven clubs that can be the champions. Only one can win, and all the others are disappointed and live in the middle of disaster.

Any strengthening of the squad, in a League and Champions League which demands so much, is a good thing because you need many top quality players.

When I watched the Premier League on the telly, I didn't expect it to be that hard. The opponents are all physically strong, real athletes. It wasn't like that in Germany. You must be prepared for it. But I prepared myself for it.