Mesut and I played together at Werder Bremen and Arsenal for so many years. There is no other player that I shared so much time with. We were important for each other.
Per Mertesacker
I want to make an impact on young people's lives and be part of their future no matter what they do because I have seen that all the very talented players at 15, 16 still had very little chance to be successful in football.
First and foremost, Wenger saw us as human beings and he had a lot of faith in us, which is why he stood by us.
The main thing for me was that I wanted to be able to decide when my international career would end after 10 years myself.
The more people that write me off, the stronger I get. That's my feeling.
Doing something for others helped to not put that focus too much on football and to put things into perspective of how fortunate we are.
It is a lot of fun here in England and at Arsenal.
Wenger has won three Premier League titles, which is proof enough of his standing as a manager.
One thing is for sure, I will give everything every time I put on the Arsenal shirt.
Talent is what you make of your situation.
I think it is so beneficial to English and British football when youngsters see different cultures and environments.
It is not only the skilful players who can make the difference in a game. It is as well players who just try to stick to their qualities and give absolutely everything.
Of course I have an advantage with my size on set pieces.
I was extremely lucky with my career and I want to finish on a high.
Sometimes I get the feeling that some parents really think their son can pay for their pension, especially being in London.
I expect myself to perform at that level every single week.
At Arsenal you are replaceable so quickly as a player, I don't want to stand in someone's way.
You learn a lot from defeats. As well, you need to learn from victories.
Some days you realise that everything is a burden, both physically and mentally. That it's not about fun, but you have to deliver without a doubt. Even if you are injured.
Obviously, everyone looks at whether we bring young footballers into the first team, that's one of the goals. But I wouldn't discard someone who is successful in life, that's big. The hall of fame in the academy should be a wide variety of stories.
Arsenal is one of the top teams in Europe and I have been looking out for Arsenal since I got my first jersey when I was ten or 12.
When I played for Hannover I had several offers, also - as I have been told - from Hamburg, Bremen and Bayern. Back then I already was a German international and Bayern would have loved to have the complete German national team.
My home town called me a citizen of honour. So I'm a special citizen now.
Everyone says I should really savour the last year, play as much as possible, really soak everything in. I'd most like to sit on the bench, or, even better, in the stands.
I want players to think: 'OK, this has happened now, what is next for me?' That's a very big target because what are academies about nowadays? Is it really just to find one or two players? But what happened to the others? I'm very, very interested in that.
I was talented at a young age, but I still had to grow and develop further.
No matter how much striking power you have got, you need to have a sense of defensive compactness from everyone.
Mentality is a big part of every game, when you take the initiative and when you drop.
If there is a really good player at U16 level who disrespects the coach, if you then say: 'You can go somewhere else then. That is not how we do things here.' That would be powerful.
Arsenal has always been special for me.
In the moments before a game starts my stomach turns around as if I had to vomit. Then I have to choke so violently until my eyes tear.
In certain situations, players should protect themselves by not losing track of the most important things in their job.
Being in a career and going from highlight to highlight and playing a lot of matches you go through it and think it's normal when you play in front of 60,000 and you almost want to vomit in front of every game.
The heritage of Arsenal, to believe in our academy and to really promote our academy. That's important and that's why I am here as well. I wouldn't waste my time just to know that we are not having successes here at Arsenal.
If Messi has the ball, he is fantastic to watch and difficult to stop. You have to double up on him, triple up on him even, stay with him constantly to block his way to the goal.
Never tackle, never go down, we've heard it over and over again. You have to try to keep Messi away from the goal and block him with multiple players while being as close to him as possible. He is too quick, too fast, too intense with the ball.
I was fortunate to play under Thomas Schaaf at Bremen. And I played for Arsene Wenger. So I always felt, let's say, more responsible than others towards the manager and his succession.
Arsene Wenger was always the kind of manager whose belief in his team's qualities was steady as a rock and who approached matters with never-ending patience.
The first time in my career I thought it makes no sense anymore, that I'll retire.
You know what you have achieved and what you have been through.
When you step up as a young talent, you need to challenge the old lads.
You never stop working, you never stop doing things because there's someone behind you - in a respectful way - who is giving absolutely everything in every single training session.
Even when you are experienced, sometimes mistakes happen.
The interaction between the goalkeeper and the back four has to be top to compete in the Premier League.
If you just protect and you have no chances on the break and you miss one chance to kill the game, then it's difficult in the Premier League to win any game.
I never heard anything about 'potatoes' or 'kanaken' during my time in the national team. However I have been called 'potato,' too.
Football has taught me so much.
The amount of staff we have in academies is... I've never seen anything like it. It's good to take care of the players but sometimes I get confused by the number of people who have an impact on one kid - we're talking 100 people or more. It's quite a heavy load.
When I was young and visited England with my auntie, as somebody who was football crazy, I simply had to come back with a shirt. I can't remember why, but I came back with an Arsenal shirt and my brother had a Manchester United one.
The first Premier League season is always tough for anyone.
