Mehdi Benatia: 'I realised then I was on the way to losing everything'
Now a top-class defender for Morocco and Juventus, things could have been very different for Benatia had he not turned things around drastically.
The former Roma and Bayern Munich defender has had an excellent career by anyone's standards, but things looked to be going in a very different direction when he was a youngster.
Admitted to France's academy of excellence, his country of birth, Benatia found himself expelled from the program due to behavioural issues.
"At the time, I had big troubles in the school. I did not want to do any school work, I also had some behavioural problems. I was - in inverted commas - a complete idiot." the centre-half admitted to the 'BBC'.
"Honestly, it was bizarre to go home and see my mother and father who were really very angry with me,
"I realised then I was on the way to losing everything, and that my dream of being a footballer might slip away if I continued along that path. It was because of that I changed. I had to redeem myself.
"Some take a motorway and always drive straight while others get lost along the way, take the wrong path and come back - but the most important is to reach your destination. I managed to arrive where I am dreamed of being, so I am happy and proud about that."