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The former AC Milan midfielder has been touted by many as a ‘bad boy’ for his off-pitch lifestyle.
READ ALSO: AFCON 2017 I want see changes in the Black Stars- Kevin Prince Boateng
As a teenager playing for Tottenham in 2009, Boateng was always in the spotlight for his poor attitude and luxurious spending.
And the Ghanaian international has now explained that he earned so much as a young player that he thought nothing else mattered.
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“I had a lot of money for a 20-year-old. I thought: Okay so you don’t want me, I will enjoy my life. I went out night-clubbing. And then of course you can’t perform,” Boateng said in an interview with The Guardian.
READ ALSO: Audio Unpatriotic KP Boateng has no right to criticize the Black Stars - Gyan “You end up trying to buy happiness. I bought a Lamborghini. Wow! I was happy for a week. After that I didn’t even use the car. Who drives around Loughton in a Lamborghini?
“Football clubs are a little wiser now, but still they leave players to the mercy of their own network of friends – not always a good idea. I got friends to come visit me but they weren’t real friends.
“They weren’t the type of friends who will tell you: “What the f*** are you doing? Go and train and play football. They were friends who would say: ‘Let’s go out’.
“If you’re 18, you don’t know anything. And today if you are 18 you get five million net a year. You buy the world! That is exactly what you think: I can buy the world. I buy friends, I buy girls, I buy cars, I buy everything.
“I still have a picture at home of me standing in-front of three cars and a big house and I’m standing there like I’m 50 Cent. I look at it sometimes and I say: “look how stupid you were”.
The Las Palmas midfielder, however, had some advice for upcoming footballers on how they spend their earnings, adding that he does not want to see them repeat his mistakes.“There are young players here with so much talent. It can be difficult to live here: beautiful place, beautiful weather, you train two hours a day, you can go to the beach. To be focused on this island is difficult but I’m experienced, so I help advice. If they listen, that’s up to them, but at least I can say I tried.
“I don’t want them to waste their talent. I’ve given them examples of things I did really wrong. I made mistakes in my life. I’m OK with that now, but I don’t want them to do the same stupid things that leave a mark forever: ‘Bad boy’, ‘drinker’, ‘party guy’.”