Fosu-Mensah Recalls His School Days

Tim Fosu-Mensah is the latest Manchester United player to take part in our 'School Days' feature.

The versatile Dutchman discusses attempting overhead kicks out on the streets, playing football with his pals and offers some advice to aspiring players...

How would you describe your time at school?
It was a nice time and I enjoyed it. I didn’t really like school on its own but, when you were a kid, you’d always use any breaks to play football outside with your classmates. That’s what I enjoyed the most, I think.

Were there any subjects you particularly enjoyed or didn’t enjoy?
I did enjoy learning languages, and maths too. The rest of it wasn’t really my thing!

What were you like as a footballer back then?
At school, we always had little tournaments against other schools. I never played in those, because at the time I was already playing at Ajax. Whenever there was a little break and we played football outside, maybe I was one of the star players [laughs] - it was really enjoyable!

Were you playing with older players at the time?
At my school, we also had two other players who played for Ajax, so we always played together. I think there were others who weren’t playing professionally but had the talent, so it was always very competitive.

Have you always been a defender, even since your school days?
No [laughs], every time I played on the streets I just played as an attacker actually! With it being out on the street, the ground was hard, but sometimes as a kid you still tried bicycle kicks! It was great fun.

Do you still keep in touch with your friends from school?
Yeah, definitely. I still speak to a lot of them because I grew up with them so, every time I go back, I’m still with the same group of boys.

What advice would you give someone at school who wants to become a professional footballer?
I would say ‘work hard, listen to the senior players and always try to improve.’ If something is going well, I think you obviously have to be happy about it, but I don’t think about it too much because it’s important to keep going and keep trying to develop yourself. It helps you get the best out of yourself.

Credit: Manutd.com