One of my brothers, Serge, was at a couple of professional clubs on trial, including Palace when they had Ashley Cole on loan. He was a winger, though left-footed, and I learned a lot of my skills from him.
Just because I don't smile a lot, people think, 'Ah, yeah. He must have a bad attitude.' But if you don't know me, you don't know me. That was the problem. My face is just serious!
The thing was, if I had a bad game, I was 'the Man United reject.' If I had a good game, it was 'Man United star on loan.' And I just thought, 'I don't need that anymore.' One minute, I was hero; the next minute, I was zero. I just didn't need it. I'd rather just play football.
It can be United or Aston Villa or Chelsea or whoever. I just want to win, and if I can score a goal against them, I'll be buzzing.
Me going to a big club when I was, like, 19 or 20, I didn't know what to expect, how to behave, whatever. I was just a youngster who wanted to do tricks. I didn't even care about end product, really.
Now I want to play with the Ivory Coast. It has been rewarding, firstly because I am proud to play for my country, then because the Ivorian selection has quality players and has always been a reservoir of talent.
One thing I wanted to do from when I was young was buy my parents a house. I have done that in Ivory Coast.
Ivory Coast, even though I told them no at first, they still had the belief in me and still wanted me because they knew what I could do for the team.
The Ivory Coast had been begging for ages. The country and the fans love me already, and I haven't even done anything. I may not get the red carpet - it may not have the same Nike deals as when you play for England - but I'm going to be playing, I'm going to be loved, and that's all I want. Nothing else.
Everyone at United made me really feel at home. They are decent lads at United - all of them.
I'd never look at someone and think he's better than me, unless it's Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi.
I am a normal guy. I muck about; I play around with my nieces. The only thing is I need to be professional when I am out and conduct myself in a certain way. I still live a normal lifestyle.
I've spoken with Raheem Sterling and Jordan Henderson, and they say the Premier League's the place to be. It's where I want to get to, and getting there with Palace would be nice.
With the way my career has gone, I've had ups and downs, and I'm thankful for going through what I've gone through because now I'm a stronger person.
