Riyad Mahrez sits down with Patrick Davison to discuss his journey from the suburbs of Paris to Manchester City, and explains how Leicester City proved the perfect club as he got to grips with English football.
After sealing a £60m move to Manchester City from Leicester, Mahrez is set for his home Premier League debut at the Etihad against Huddersfield on Sunday, live on Sky Sports.
City's club-record signing may represent Algeria, but it is on the streets of the Parisian suburb Sarcelles where he learnt his trade. And it is the capital, according to Mahrez, where you find the best that France has to offer.
"Paris, in Ile-de-France, you find the best players in France. Because we always play outside," said Mahrez.
"When I go out in England I never see people playing outside. France have small pitches everywhere, gymnasiums, open all the time. So we were eating there, sleeping there, almost every day.
"When you see older people doing this when you're young, you want to play with them, and when you grow up, you play and the younger people are watching you. It has always been like this, there is a lot of talent there."
Having come through the ranks at hometown club AAS Sarcelles, a move to fourth-tier Quimper did not come until he was 18. It allowed a teenage Mahrez to develop as a street footballer, and provided him with an instinct he feels would be lacking had he left for an academy in his younger years.
"I went into the academy when I was 18, so I was already made as a man," he added. "I wasn't 12 or 13. A lot of people go when they're 12 or 13 and they lose the instinct.
"They can still make it, but a lot of them come back because they don't make it. Me I made it late, that's what they liked on me, because I had the instinct and was playing with nothing in my head. No one telling me to go left or right, and you need some people like this in your team."
The switch to Quimper only came after he headed to St Mirren for a trial, and then duly fled - partly on a bike - after the Scottish club kept stalling on a move for a then 17-year-old Mahrez.
"I came to St Mirren. I did like four games with the Under-23s and scored seven goals. Every game they were saying, 'Okay we will see, let's see, let's see, let's see'.
"Then my agent told me to come back but I was happy because I wasn't talking English, everywhere was so cold, it was in January. I had nothing in my pocket, it was tough, so I wanted to go back to my house.
"When the agent called me and told me I had to go, my boots were still in the training ground of St Mirren, so I took a bike from the hotel to the training ground, take my boots, come back and then go to the airport."
Mahrez then moved from Quimper to Le Havre in 2010, and after four years at the club, the winger made a surprising move to England, joining Leicester for £400,000.
"I thought I was never going to play in England, I thought I was going to play in Spain or France. I thought it was more my type of football," Mahrez said.
"But in life you never know, you're never sure about anything. When I arrived here I found the football I like, the football I want.
"I arrived at a club where they made it easy for me. They were first, winning every game and we had a good team at the time. It was easy for me to settle and be involved in goals. We always had the ball, so it was a good start for me, to settle in England and English football.
"After that, when I was playing, I found it very good. Box to box - I love these games."
Following promotion to the Premier League, a remarkable end to the 2014-15 season saw Leicester escape relegation.
What followed the season after was unprecedented and unforeseen, but it proved to be a monumental breakthrough for Mahrez, who was central to Leicester's unlikely Premier League title triumph, picking up the PFA Player of the Year award after scoring 17 goals from the wing.
His stock rose considerably, and links with Manchester City followed. There were numerous bids, but the Foxes held firm window after window, holding out for a desired fee.
The move finally went through this summer, for £60m - some £35m lower than Leicester's January valuation - and while Mahrez admits he was confident it would happen, he knew he had to continue to impress on the pitch.
"I knew it was Leicester who tried to block me. They wanted to keep me. It was fair from them, they wanted to keep their best players," he added.
"It was [tough] a little bit, but after the window closed I always got back to my football and I forgot everything. I always gave everything for them.
"It would only happen if I was performing on the pitch, which I was doing, or trying to do, and I did it last year as well. That's why I was always confident about it."
And so to City, who are looking to better their 100-point Premier League-winning exploits of last season. As Pep Guardiola's only summer signing, there will be pressure on Mahrez to prove the move was worthwhile - but he is relishing the challenge.
"It's a very, very good team for me. I'm very happy to arrive in this team, especially the way they play. That suits me, that's my type of football, and of course the manager, there's no doubt about him, I don't need to talk about him.
"It was the perfect move for me. I didn't want to go anywhere other than City.
"I'm here to help the team, to step up and win more things. They did unbelievably last year. I think it will never be done again, but we are here to win again and win again and win again. That's the mentality here.
"I have a title. I have a player of the year. But I need more."