Doing something for others helped to not put that focus too much on football and to put things into perspective of how fortunate we are.
I want to make an impact on young people's lives and be part of their future no matter what they do because I have seen that all the very talented players at 15, 16 still had very little chance to be successful in football.
Wenger has won three Premier League titles, which is proof enough of his standing as a manager.
Arsenal is one of the top teams in Europe and I have been looking out for Arsenal since I got my first jersey when I was ten or 12.
When I played for Hannover I had several offers, also - as I have been told - from Hamburg, Bremen and Bayern. Back then I already was a German international and Bayern would have loved to have the complete German national team.
One thing is for sure, I will give everything every time I put on the Arsenal shirt.
If there is a really good player at U16 level who disrespects the coach, if you then say: 'You can go somewhere else then. That is not how we do things here.' That would be powerful.
No matter how much striking power you have got, you need to have a sense of defensive compactness from everyone.
Obviously, everyone looks at whether we bring young footballers into the first team, that's one of the goals. But I wouldn't discard someone who is successful in life, that's big. The hall of fame in the academy should be a wide variety of stories.
I think it is so beneficial to English and British football when youngsters see different cultures and environments.
You learn a lot from defeats. As well, you need to learn from victories.
Mesut and I played together at Werder Bremen and Arsenal for so many years. There is no other player that I shared so much time with. We were important for each other.
Everyone says I should really savour the last year, play as much as possible, really soak everything in. I'd most like to sit on the bench, or, even better, in the stands.
Arsenal has always been special for me.
Some days you realise that everything is a burden, both physically and mentally. That it's not about fun, but you have to deliver without a doubt. Even if you are injured.
My home town called me a citizen of honour. So I'm a special citizen now.
I want players to think: 'OK, this has happened now, what is next for me?' That's a very big target because what are academies about nowadays? Is it really just to find one or two players? But what happened to the others? I'm very, very interested in that.
I was talented at a young age, but I still had to grow and develop further.
Mentality is a big part of every game, when you take the initiative and when you drop.
Of course I have an advantage with my size on set pieces.
