Quincy joins Bluebirds

Former Arsenal midfielder Quincy Owusu-Abeyie has signed on loan for Cardiff City until the end of the season.

The Spartak Moscow player had been on loan with Birmingham City; however the club decided not to extend the deal until the end of the season.

The Ghana international was reported to have had trials with Tottenham last week, but he exclusively revealed on Soccer AM that he would be playing his football at Ninian Park for the remainder of the season.

"Obviously I'm signed to Spartak Moscow and unfortunately it didn't work out for me at Birmingham, so I had to leave but I have just signed for Cardiff City," he told Soccer AM.

"We were looking for teams and my agent told me that Cardiff City were interested, so I went there and we had a little chit chat.

"I've signed until the end of the season and then in the summer we will decide my future."

Academy

The 22-year-old is a product of the world-famous Ajax youth academy, where he spent 11 years.

Over the years the De Toekomst (which translates as 'the future') academy has produced some of the finest football players in the world including, Johan Cruyff, Marco van Basten, Frank Rijkaard, Edgar Davids, Clarence Seedorf, and Dennis Bergkamp.

However, Owusu-Abeyie explained that the academy was as much about academic studies as it was football.

"The best thing about Ajax was their school academy," he said. "After school you would go there and do your homework and they would look after you.

"They don't just look at the football side of things, they look at the education as well and they keep in touch with the school you got to too, and that's the good thing about it.

"It's a good club to start at as a kid. They give you a go everywhere and try you in every position and as you get older they will figure out the best position for you."

Move

In 2002 however, before he had played a first team game for Ajax, Owusu-Abeyie opted for a move to Arsenal, where he was able to fulfil a childhood dream and play alongside Dennis Bergkamp.

"Being born in Holland, it was obviously nice to get to play alongside Dennis Bergkamp," he said. "It was a great experience because when I was there they had a very good team. They had all the big names like (Patrick) Vieira, Thierry Henry and Bergkamp.

"The first team players had their own side and I was like a young kid and we had our own side, but when we trained with them we obviously mixed and they were great boys. It was a great experience."