"Footballers all over the world need to have confidence from the coach.
"They need to have minutes on the pitch. If you are a substitute and only play for a couple of minutes, it's difficult to settle in.
"Every coach has his own players. Maybe I was not the player that Sir Alex (Ferguson) liked, which is fair enough. He can choose - that's why he's the manager.
"But here I am getting a lot of time on the pitch and I know the coach has faith in me."
"If you come from a long distance and everything is new and different, you are going to struggle.
"But I was very happy because I was at a great club with a great manager. I was only 22 and I was learning.
"Yet the years went past and still I was not getting a chance. I was training well, then come the Saturday or Sunday I wasn't in the team.
"I would come on and have a chance and score and then I would find myself on the bench.
"Sometimes I was not even on the bench - I could see I was losing support."
He knew his time was up:
"I was not surprised they were willing to sell me because I could see things coming.
"Saha was signed and then I was not getting many minutes on the pitch.
"You need to play as the career of the football player is short - that's why I wanted to move on.
"You don't like seeing the games from the outside."
He still likes Fergie:
"I was on very good terms with Sir Alex, even at the end. He was perfect - a nice person and a great manager.
"He understood my position and he let me go because he knew it was going to be difficult for me to play.
"And the fans were great. From the moment I arrived in Manchester they were supportive and I appreciated that.
"I spoke with everyone in the team - they were nice guys. I had a good relationship with Mikael Silvestre, Wes Brown, Rio Ferdinand, John O'Shea and Kleberson.
"I was really happy in England. Maybe the weather was not as I would have liked but I had friends and settled in."