I played for West Ham juniors and thought I'd become a…

I think I get a raw deal from referees. But as a professional footballer I have to accept it, and that's what I do.

— Pepe

I became a professional footballer because I love football.

— Thomas Muller

Even in school, when they asked us what we wanted to be, I wrote, 'A professional footballer.'

— Wendie Renard

You want to achieve the most you can in the short period you have in your career as a professional footballer.

— Gary Cahill

I'm a professional footballer and, to me, playing regularly is the most important thing; money is secondary.

— Kolo Toure

Ever since I was six or seven, I wanted to be a professional footballer.

— Romelu Lukaku

My first goal was to become a professional footballer.

— Philipp Lahm

When you become a professional footballer, there's no written contract that says you have to strive to play first-team football.

— Joe Hart

When I was a child, it was my dream to be a professional footballer. When I was 14 I visited Milan's San Siro stadium…

— Andriy Shevchenko

I want people not to be surprised when I say I'm a professional footballer, especially for younger girls, looking up and realising that it…

— Leah Williamson

You don't get everything your own way when you are a professional footballer, and neither should you expect to.

— Darren Bent

A lot of kids, when they get to 18 or 19, they start getting flashy and forgetting about the real basics of being a professional footballer.

— Reiss Nelson

As a kid, you obviously dream of being a professional footballer. I would watch players like Ronaldo of Brazil and pretend to be him…

— Gareth Bale

Ever since I was a boy, I have wanted to be a professional footballer and to captain my country one day.

— Aaron Ramsey

I really loved football from a young age. And my only thought, my only objective in life, was to be a professional footballer.

— Paul Pogba