We have to start with your career at Arsenal, how did you feel when you first signed therIt was a dream for me because I never thought about one day playing in the Premier League for such a big club like Arsenal. When the opportunity came for me to sign it was great for my family, my country and my academy where I started my career. Coming straight from the Ivory Coast to England, I think that was the first time it had happened, and normally most of the players who came Africa had a bridge club in France or Belgium, but I was really fortunate to come straight from ASEC Mimosas to the Premier League.

I’m blessed and I thank Allah for that opportunity. It was incredible.

Who were the most welcoming members of the squad?

When I joined the club, Arsenal had unbelievable, experienced players in the team, and I remember when I was doing my trial people were talking about how enthusiastic I was. 

You want to please the manager, but sometimes you panic and make the wrong decisions. I was really lucky that Arsenal was full of experienced players, and these guys were so nice to me.

Arsenal had a lot of French players, Theirry Henry was talking to me in French, so was Patrick Vierra and Lauren, these guys really helped me to settle. Guys like Martin Keown, Ray Parlour and Sol Campbell were really helpful too.

Martin supported me right from the start, he was like a big brother to me and I was very fortunate to be around top players. I also have to mention Dennis Bergkamp because he was an amazing guy, seeing him on the TV and then training with him was like a dream.

Are there any members of the current Arsenal squad who you would’ve loved to play alongside?

Absolutely, Mikel Arteta has done incredible work at Arsenal and they bring in amazing young players with unbelievable talent.

Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba are very good, Bukayo Saka is amazing, the captain Martin Odegaard is an amazing player, Gabriel Martinelli is great too.

Arsenal is back, the intensity of the game is incredible and when you go to the Emirates you feel like you’re in the moment, it feels like you’re back in Highbury because the fans are really exciting.

They support the team because of the quality of the players and the intensity of the manager – that’s why we love Arsenal. 

Let’s chat about AFCON, how proud were you to see Ivory Coast win this year’s tournament? 

It was an amazing story, hosting the African Cup of Nations after 40 years and winning just one game in the group stage to then win the whole tournament was incredible.

I’m so proud of my country and the people from Ivory Coast, the fans were amazing. They pushed the team to win that tournament because we weren’t a favourite to win. After three games we were nearly out, but the fans pushed the players and the whole country.

Football is magic, football is unbelievable and I have never seen my country as united as they were during that tournament. I have to say well done to Emerse Fae, it was amazing how he managed to make them win.

You have to praise the players too because they were immense mentally and they all gave their best to the team at the right moment. 

You won AFCON in 2015, what memories do you have from that tournament?

For an African player, the most important trophy is AFCON. If you’ve played your career and haven’t won the tournament, your job isn’t finished.

The manager didn’t want me at the start of the group stage for the qualification. But then I joined the squad and we won the final on penalties. That was my last game for Ivory Coast, winning AFCON. After that, I felt like my career was done.

I think Ivory Coast had a team that could’ve managed to get to the semi-finals of the World Cup, but we never managed to do it. The African team have to challenge now and believe that one day we could win the World Cup.

Morocco were close, which is incredible. As a continent we have to unite, even though we are in different teams and different countries. That’s the goal. 

After your playing career you completed the UEFA MIP programme, what was that experience like? 

It was great! The connections you make there and the teachers were amazing. When you finish your career you think ‘what am I going to do?’, I’ve played football and that’s what I’m capable of doing.

The amount of learning we had in the administration of football was incredible. You learn so many things around how to run a club, how FIFA work, how UEFA work, you learn so many things. I want to be a head coach and these tools helped me a lot in my career after football.

How did you find the transition from being a player to a career off the pitch

The transition is hard, it’s almost like you have to redefine yourself.

When you finish playing you think, I’ll just take my family on holiday and relax, but you realise this is not possible and at some point you are going to get fed up.

It’s very important, before your career ends, that you start thinking about your future. Some people go into different environments but I knew I wanted to go into what I knew, and that was football.

I love being on the grass, giving advice to young players. I love inspiring players to win football matches, I love beautiful football and then it was easy for me to jump straight into it. 

I had a great mentor in Brendan Rodgers who gave me the opportunity to work with him. 

Do you think it’s important for players to stay within football once they’ve stopped playing? 

I think it’s very important. When you’ve played football for 10, 15, 20 years, you have expertise in the game and you can apply that in a different way. You can be a head coach, you can be a scout, you can be a fitness coach – there’s so many jobs.

Football needs ex-players. As a former player you can give so much advice to young players, supporting them mentally and physically, as well as tactically in the game. Academy is a vital moment in a young player’s career because it’s where they develop.

Ex-players can give back to the game, the football environment is something we know really well and have experience in, so we can do a lot to help it. 

Do you have any goals for the future? 

My ambition is to fulfil a head coach career. I love the game, I want to just win football matches and trophies. 

I want to inspire players to win trophies. My dream is to see an African team winning the World Cup one day. I hope that as a coach I can fulfil that, that is my ultimate dream.

I hope that I can manage a really top level. Of course, start low but then I’d love to manage a Premier League or Champions League club.

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