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I love a challenge and when a new centre-back comes in it makes you raise your game. You have to show more, you have to be more consistent.
To have a chance at a big club, if it goes well and the club is happy and I am happy, then I can definitely see a longer-term future in Italy.
At cricket, I was mainly a bowler and tried to bat. I hit the odd four or six and then got out! In athletics, I was mainly triple jump and 200m.
It's nice when you can have that battle on the pitch and then there's respect after the game because, ultimately, you are just trying to do your best.
I think Serie A has always been a goal of mine to play in one day, because as a defender if you get the chance to experience Serie A you want to do it.
As players you need to have thick skin and we need to have belief that you will have bad days but it's about making sure you have more good days than bad.
I think I've played a lot in the Premier League and now I can bring my qualities that I've learned to Italy, and that is something I am looking forward to.
I always hoped I'd get a chance to prove myself at the top level because I believed I could do it, but making your way up the football ladder is very tough.
Everyone has their own traits but if you are being compared to players like Rio Ferdinand then you must be doing something well and hopefully I can keep that going.
Football was always a dream, but a distant dream until when I was about to go to university. I'd had a couple of trials, but it wasn't a realistic dream, it was a kid's dream.
You're never going to be bulletproof, but if you're feeding yourself good food and making sure you're eating the right supplements, I think you reduce the chances of getting any niggling injuries.
I think a lot of managers say that it starts from the front and us as defenders know it helps our job when the front two strikers put that pressure on. If they can do that it makes our job a lot easier.
Anyone who wants to be a centre-half would have to say that John Terry is a role model. Every centre-half in the game would agree with that. It is the way he leads the team and the way he reads the game.
When you come to Manchester United, in every transfer window - whether the team is doing well or badly - there are always players linked with the club because this club is always linked with the best players.
I quite like being aggressive and horrible which gives you more confidence to dictate over strikers and to make them feel they have had a frustrating game when they've walked off the pitch, feeling very down.
I didn't know too many people in life, not just in sports but in life, that were vegan, so it was something that I had to educate myself on fully before I could, one, do it myself, and, two, talk to others about it.
I have a collage of pictures of my dad holding my brother and me. I look at that before every game just to remind me about having no fear or regrets and to go out and enjoy the moment, because I know how precious life is.
You work every day technically, physically but so much is in the mind. Look at when players go on big scoring runs, then stop scoring. It's not that they are any different physically, it's very often mental, confidence, concentration.
It doesn't matter whether it's the 93rd minute, Giggsy is making his jinky, mazy little runs. You could forgive him for maybe not coming out training every day, because he's done so much in the game, but every day he's out there. He doesn't seem to need a rest.
It's hard to sit back and just go through your whole career, because everything's always moving so fast. But the odd milestone is always a nice moment, and when you look at the previous players to have hit those kind of milestones, it's nice to be in that company.
Throughout my career I have developed a thick skin against verbal abuse, justifying it as just 'part of the game' but the time has come for Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to consider regulating their channels, taking responsibility for protecting the mental health of users regardless of age, race, sex or income.
You do see very few English players going abroad and those that do are largely good players otherwise they wouldn't have gone, but I feel a lot of their downfall is in the language. On the pitch you can learn the different basics of 'left,' 'right' and 'behind you' but off the pitch you want to have that influence around the team.