I could have ended up on the streets if not for Arsenal- Quincy Owusu-Abeyie

Owusu-Abeyie joined Arsenal from the Ajax academy in 2003 and went on to make only five senior appearances for the Gunners in his three years at the club.

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“If it wasn’t for Arsenal, maybe I would have led definitely a different life,” Quincy told The Athletic. “Maybe I would have just a normal nine to five, maybe I would have been a street guy, I don’t know… but fortunately I got that phone call.

“I was born and raised in Amsterdam. Bijlmermeer is the area — it’s basically the ‘hood. It wasn’t easy. Sometimes you might be on the block and you might hear a gunshot, or you might hear that someone got stabbed. When I got that phone call, I said ‘Arsenal? Who doesn’t want to play for Arsenal?!

“That moment when I met Arsene Wenger is when it sort of sank in, when I realised… It’s not on TV anymore. So I looked at my agent, and my agent looked at me, and it was like, ‘Boy… I gotta get the job done'.”