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When I arrived in Milan, I found myself surrounded by many fantastic footballers.

When I was a child, it was my dream to be a professional footballer. When I was 14 I visited Milan's San Siro stadium and remember thinking how unbelievable it was. From then onwards I vowed that one day I would be playing there - and I am very proud that I achieved this and also for everything else I have managed to achieve in football.

I always wanted to play for AC Milan or Real Madrid. Real Madrid, of course, because when I was young, the players that played there were the top players. I was looking at Real Madrid as the best of the best. And AC Milan, they also had good players when I was young, so I looked at AC Milan the same way as Real Madrid.

I played very well in AC Milan, but I had two years of injury problems. I needed to change team and the city for my mentality.

I arrived in Milan when I was 18. But my time in Italian football helped me to mature.

I am gratified by Arsenal's interest, certainly, but my objective is to come back for Milan and do well at Milan.

When I went to Juventus, I was young, but in training, I had legends like Fabio Cannavaro and Lilian Thuram marking me. I had to work hard to get my respect.

Like so many of the players, I started at La Masia at the age of 11. I can't ever imagine not playing for Barcelona, let alone not playing soccer for a career. I don't ever want to play anywhere else.

At 21, Real Madrid or Barcelona would have been more difficult for me. If I play well enough at Chelsea, I could win my place in the starting team, and my priority is to play.

You want to play in the best stadiums against the best players - your Real Madrid's and Barcelona's - you want to play those teams.