Quotes from Bojan Krkic

One of the factors that has helped me to reach 100 games was not to lose hope.

If you become their property it is much clearer for you, for the club, for everything. It was a great experience to play in three different teams, different leagues, different experiences, but if I wanted to improve I had to break this cycle and make my own way. That's why I signed this contract to come to Stoke.

Italian football is just how I imagined it to be - far more tactical than the Spanish game which is based on technique.

Some people like Messi didn't have to learn a lot as his is a natural style. But of course you can improve your technique, your football intelligence, your everything.

I like to get the ball on the ground, make good plays and move the ball around the pitch quickly at a good tempo.

I miss everything that surrounds the club. I miss my colleagues, my friends and everyone who cares for Barcelona.

Frank Rijkaard put me in the first team when I was 17 and gave me every week the chance to play with the first team and start my way in football. I was so young and my dreams came true so quickly thanks to Rijkaard.

Eventually, when I retire, I can say I've played at the Britannia Stadium on a Wednesday at 7 P. M. in the cold and wind.

I am a striker or at least a playmaker behind the front man, certainly not a wide man. But with Rome and Milan, I was only playing on the wings.

I thank God for having played for four years in the best Barcelona team in history, but playing in the Premier League is also very important.

When you play, of course you want to win, but the most important thing about pre-season is improving your fitness.

In the end, I know my qualities and I know I'm not Messi. I'm Bojan.

But I think that if a club like Barcelona sign a player, it is because he has the right qualities.

It's a quiet life. Normally it's training, house, gym.

I started very young and it is not easy to get to grips what I achieved at the age of 17.

In Holland, I have got the buzz back playing as a centre-forward, which is where I perform best. Ajax always appealed to me from when I was young and they gave me a chance to play in the Champions League too.

The group of players that you see in the Barca dressing room is unique. There are a lot of homegrown players and others who really care for Barcelona a lot as well.

It is an honour for me that Mainz gives me the opportunity to prove myself in another top European league.

Mark Hughes really believes in me, he makes me feel as though I'm a great footballer.

For me, the wind is the worst weather you can have to play football.

I need to feel like I am important part of the team, if I get that the goals will come.

I played many matches and got experience very early. Did I lose some of my childhood? This is one of the things that I am more sensitive about and that touched me the most, because I am a family person. There are many moments that I haven't had the chance to enjoy with my family and also with my friends.

The No. 9, a team's centre forward, is a number that means a lot and, God willing, I hope to inherit it some day.

Sometimes innocence is a good thing but I think life, experiencing different situations, different clubs, gives you a lot of knowledge.