Freddie Ljungberg Quotes

When I went to Arsenal, people in Sweden said my game was more suited for Spain or Italy.

I played as a 10 and, in Sweden, they let me take as many touches as I could. All of a sudden, I come to Arsenal and I have to play one and two touches – it was a little bit alien to me.

I think Unai did a great job and was a great leader, and a fantastic coach.

I had hip surgery in America because I’d had problems during my last two years in Europe. They said out there that my hip was broken and I didn’t know about it.

I had to have tests for cancer and other diseases – it wasn’t much fun. I was getting a shooting pain in my hip and we didn’t know what it was. First of all we thought it was an old injury. But they didn’t find anything wrong, even though when I had an ultrasound test it was all really swollen.

I don’t want to sound bigheaded or anything, but when you reach a certain level of recognition or fame, or whatever you want to call it, when you’re young the first couple of years you think, ‘Oh, this is fun.’

I am not particularly disciplined, but I am stubborn like few.

When friends come over from Europe, they think it’s going to be rainy in Seattle but it’s beautiful. It’s a hidden pearl. And people here respect your private life.

I am not a big gym fan.

I didn’t know exactly what to expect when I first came to Seattle but I have to say that how the city and the fans have embraced me has gone beyond my wildest dreams and for that I am forever grateful.

Wenger simply doesn’t like those who show a weakness. With him you generally feel as if you were in the army. It’s only in public that he may appear to be some sort of man of liberal views. In reality, his credo is natural selection.

I felt Arsenal had let a lot of players go. When Thierry left I felt it was time for me to do something different and challenging.

Arsenal showed the door to too many people. Why did they let Thierry Henry go? When I found out about his move I realised the Arsenal I played for were finished.

My roles for Arsenal and Sweden are very different.

That’s what it’s all about. To play better. To win. There’s nothing else to it.

The important thing for me is we want to keep the ball, we want to have the ball because we are Arsenal football club.

As a child I could lie in bed and do absolutely nothing for hours but once I decided to do something, big or small, I could not stop until it had been completed.

I have a house with its own dock and I can take my boat out when I want.

Sometimes when you play on the wing it gets a bit isolated and you can’t help as much. But if you play a bit more central I can get the ball a lot more and help a lot more.

I felt, and it may sound a bit stupid, that I want to try things that are hard.

What I say in the dressing room always stays there.

For me, happy footballers play the best football.

And at West Ham no one gives you a puzzled look if you get called up for your national team and players are never asked to play on injections.

If you want to play at Arsenal you need to be top, top, you need precision.

West Ham have a great academy.

Everyone that works knows that work is hard sometimes.

Every time I sprinted 100 per cent, my hamstring broke. But I knew if I didn’t sprint 100 per cent, I could keep on playing, so that’s what you do. I was just lucky it was discovered in America and I haven’t had one problem since. I feel I can run past people again and that feels nice.

Where I came from had a lot of friends. A big social circle.

Clubs have always wanted to buy me during the summer but I have always stayed loyal because I wanted to stay at Arsenal.

I’ve always been interested in clothes and shopping, and I have a few friends who work in fashion.

I think it’s important to learn about the culture of the place where you live.

The problem in Sweden is that, when the players are younger, they are not allowed to develop their own style and skills.

But I’m constantly surprised by the amount of interest in how I look. It’s flattering, but a little weird – at the end of the day, I’m a footballer.

I’m really excited by this opportunity to continue helping develop and work with some of the great young players we have coming through in the first-team environment and to work alongside Unai and his coaching team to help Arsenal win trophies.

I won almost everything there is to win and I look back with great memories.

When I came from Europe, I was told that Americans don’t care about soccer and this and that. But the way people cared was beyond my wildest expectations. You can’t manufacture that.

I like it in Seattle.

Where I am from in Sweden was on the beach, so I love the sound of the water hitting the dock.

I went to West Ham in order to play against Arsenal as often as possible.

I played team handball when I was a child. It is a very brutal sport.

Unai is very calm, composed and extremely detailed in what he expects. From Monday through to Friday, every single training session is very carefully planned.

Sometimes you have to just plug away, plug away in your game of football and maybe when your opponent gets a bit more tired you get that little extra metre and that’s when you score the goals.

I try to see what the players can do and not what they can’t do.

There were a lot of reasons why I wanted to leave Arsenal.