Love of football wins out for Gervinho

Love of football wins out for
Gervinho
8 December 2011
Arsenal forward Gervinho says his family
tried to stop him playing football as a
youngster as they wanted him to focus
on his education.
Gervinho came through the world-
renowned Jean-Marc Guillou academy in
the Ivory Coast as a youngster and the
24-year-old said football was his only
passion as a child.
"I don't know what I would have done
had I not become a footballer," Gervinho
told Arsenal's official website.
"I've always wanted to do that, even
when my family would try to stop me
playing football so that I went to school."
"They wanted me to go to a normal
school. They felt it was a bit risky as the
academy was new and not really known.
I had to bring someone who had faith in
my skills to convince them."
"I started playing at my local estate club. I
used to wake up every morning to go to
play in the club. I loved it so much, it
brought a lot of wonderful things in my
life."
"Back in the days, being able to join the
Jean-Marc Guillou academy was one of
the best things that could happen to a
youngster from Ivory Coast. There were
thousands of kids who wanted to join
that school so it was a great feeling for
me."
Gervinho has made a smooth adjustment
to the Premier League following his
summer move from Lille and points to his
time spent in Belgium with Beveren as
key to his development.
"The transfer from Africa to Beveren was
part of the training," he said.
"Most of the players would leave the
centre for Belgium. We all met again there
in Beveren."
"It was a way to adjust to European
football and having us all together made
the move easier for all of us."
"We were all happy to leave Africa for
Europe, we knew how lucky we were to
move to Europe at a young age. Someone
was looking after us."
"Beveren helped me a lot to adjust to
Europe."