Cameroon midfielder Alex Song has told his club website Ghana\u2019s Michael Essien had a great influence on him when they were both playing in the French Ligue 1.
\nThe 23-year-old Arsenal player was then with Bastia while the Ghanaian star was with Olympic Lyon. Song permanently joined the Gunners in 2006 and he gives credit today to the Chelsea ace for inspiring him to become a professional footballer.
\n\u201cI watched Michael Essien in the first team, and it made me very very happy,\u201d Song told Close Up of Arsenal TV Online.
\n\u201cWhen he started to play he did very well. Everyone just loved him. That is when I realised; if I work hard I can be like him. I think this time I can be a good professional if I work hard.
\n\u201cYou need to have a strong mentality because when you start at the age of 14-year-old in Bastia it is not easy because you have all your friends just go out when you leave. You have to be focused on the academy, work hard, go to training, go to school and come back home.
\n\u201cYou have to be strong in your head, and it was hard because all my family were in Paris. It was not easy, I just tried to do my best. But today when I see my friends we go out, and I think I did a good thing to stay in the academy. I made a lot of sacrifices but now I am very lucky man.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cameroon midfielder Alex Song has told his club website Ghana\u2019s Michael Essien had a great influence on him when they were both playing in the French Ligue 1. The 23-year-old Arsenal player was then with Bastia while the Ghanaian star was with Olympic Lyon. Song permanently joined the Gunners in 2006 and he gives credit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-274022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n