Everything I did in my path as a youth player
was everything to become a football player.
There were difficult decisions.
For me, they seemed easy at the time
but if you look back at the decision that I made,
it's not what everybody would do in their life.
Well, I moved away from my parents when I was 14.
First year, I was in that big school
where you sleep overnight with other people
and then, luckily, the second year,
I went to foster parents.
I'm very good being by myself.
I'm that shy person and again
and after, I thought everything went alright
and at the end of the year, I'm fine.
People never had to go to school for problems, discipline.
I'm fine.
The year is over.
I say goodbye to the foster parents,
not knowing what goes on and then
I come home and my parents were like sad,
crying
and I'm like what's wrong?
The foster parents don't want you to come back anymore.
I'm like why?
Because of who you are.
I'm like what?
Yeah, you're difficult to handle.
You're very quiet.
The kids who were there, it's very difficult to interact.
They just find you difficult.
As a 16-year-old, 15-year-old, you're like
yeah.
It's not nice to hear because in the end,
a lot of time in the beginning of my career,
I've been given the word like I'm a difficult person
but in the end,
I'm just a quiet person, a shy person.
And that's been given to me as difficult
so at the end you're like hmm.
I was going into my last year of school, so turning 17,
and I was going to the second team of Genk
and I said to my parents, in two months' time,
I will be in the first team.
And after one month of preparation, I'm in the first team.
Then it all changed.
The conversation, I think, beginning of the season,
somewhere in August with the mother.
The mother came there because obviously
she had the other people coming there.
And she started to explain, 'yeah but we wanted you
to go to the boarding school
and then in the weekend you can come'.
And I'm a 17-year-old kid and I'm already a month there
but starting to go to the first team.
And I just said at that time, I'm like
'you don't want me, I don't care.
I don't care about you guys anymore.
I was nice to you.
You didn't have the decency to say it.
I'm 17-years-old.
I will say it to your face.
I don't like you anymore.'
At the boarding school, you have these rules.
You go to dinner six, maybe seven.
You have to study from seven til eight.
Then you have free time.
And then I think we had to be,
it depends what year you are, what age,
you had to be in bed by, or in the room by, nine.
I come from training like 9:30.
Still have to eat, still have to study.
Everybody's already in the room because they have to
so I didn't see anybody.
I went to school, I went to football,
then had the things that I need ...
So they left me a little tray with food.
Sometimes they forgot 'cause just whatever.
It's just, you know,
at the time you're not thinking about it but it's like
yeah, you're living in a lonely world.
It's very sad but because it didn't feel like this.
Everything you did was to play football
and that was your decision.
I would say the first two years in Genk
were probably the loneliest years I will ever have
because on the one side, I lost everybody
and on the other side, I'm trying to build something.
Then you see
why football is there and why you made a choice
because you're always thinking in the end
if I'm not making it, what is it worth?
Because if I'm not making it, in football, I lost everything.
And luckily for me, that determination of saying like
I'm going to be in the first team
this year, in these two months
changed my whole ...
yeah, it changed my whole career for the good.
Then I went to Chelsea and didn't play so go down.
Then City came and then after a few years
playing with City and playing regularly
and starting to challenge
and then you're like O.K., people notice me now.
I'm getting mentioned like being top 30,
getting nominated for Ballon d'Or, and all that type of stuff.
And you are like O.K., you're now in a bracket
where people talk about you constantly and
look at every game with you playing
in a good way or bad way.
And then it's the moment like O.K. ...
I'm at that point, I'm everywhere.
I've got my family, I've got kids,
I've got more than I ever need.
And it's like if you think about it,
it's mostly like not doing this season in the summer.
O.K., this is what we signed up for.
I came into City as a Chelsea reject.
People wouldn't pay for me to watch me and all that stuff.
That's what people really said.
I could proudly say for myself that I've been
amongst the top players in the world,
especially in the last three years.
I think if I can be honest and it's not being arrogant
but I think I've done really well for myself
and I helped my team achieve things
that never have been done before,
especially in the Premier League.
It's not about winning all the time or playing.
For me, it's sometimes just about I want to play every game.
I want to show that I'm physically alright
and that I'm fine and I just want to play every game.
I push, push, push and help the team
and there's nothing better than to play a game
and help the team achieve what they want to achieve.