El Shaarawy: "Seedorf is my reference point. He has taught me many things."
Part 1 of the interview with Stephan El Shaarawy in Icon magazine.
"How it was to join Milan? Unsettling. But the welcoming was great. They allowed me to settle in immediately with the senators and champions."
"My reference point? Clarence Seedorf. He is great in every sense of the word. We used to spend a lot of time together. He taught me a lot about football as a profession, friendship and life.
If he is better than a father? No. I adore my family, and I speak with them a lot about everything - and it has always been like that. And they support me in everything I do. They are there for me but not in an invasive way. I have always felt them close to me.
In any case, it was my father who followed me first and now my mother has come to Milano to live with me.
I have a really close relationship with my older brother. He studies and I play, at least for now. Currently, there's nothing else but football for me. I am doing a job that other people do for fun."
"What I really do to have fun? I go out with my friends or play Playstation for some hours. I'm in every football video game that there is.
The first time I played as myself in a virtual version was great. I played as myself and I was my own avatar. And when I received the ball… Well, then I tried to make a nice play."
"I really like the nickname 'Pharaoh'. It has a nice story behind it. Three years ago, during the finals with the Primavera. I scored a goal that was very important for me, and my friend, Mattia Perin, imitated the heron's position. I was there, at his feet, and I did the position from the Egyptian hieroglyphs. And since then they have called me the pharaoh."
Part 2 of the interview will follow shortly.