"I know friends who took the easy way out and now they're dead"

In a statement to 'The Sun', Tottenham player Davinson Sanchez wanted to talk about his difficult childhood in a troubled neighbourhood in Colombia, where he grew up surrounded by crime, poverty, fights and gunfire. 

Who would have thought that years later he would become one of the great stars of the Premier League, with a Tottenham team with whom he has already played 125 official matches. 

"I saw a lot of bad things like drugs and people stealing. I know friends who took what I call the easy way out and some of them are now dead or in jail because they were involved in bad things," said the 24-year-old.

He added: "Taking the easy way out was never an option for me. My father used to take me to football, but sometimes it was difficult because I also had to put food on the table. I trained every day after school and then had to take three buses home. It took almost two hours. Then I would do my homework and often fall asleep".

He also explained the difficulties his family had experienced so that he could play football: "One day, when I was ten or eleven years old, I told them: 'This is taking away our savings. I know where the buses stop, so now I'm old enough to travel on my own".

Finally, Davinson revealed that he had an offer from Barcelona but rejected it because it was to play in the subsidiary and he wanted to play in professional football. 

"'They have to change the deal because I'm not going to the second team', I warned them. They did not accept, so I said that the deal was not for me," said the Colombian, who after rejecting the Barca went to Ajax and, just one year later, landed in the English league.