As a kid, I mostly played as a No 10. When I was really young, I played as a striker. But I grew a lot when I was older, and when I was 15, 16, I had a big growth, and so I changed a little bit and became slower.
I know I can be a way better player as a shortstop than I can at third.
I used to be a wait-at-the-rim big, more of a Rudy Gobert-type of player.
In modern day football, you've got to play in different positions. I've played in numerous positions, apart from centre-back and goalkeeper, I think.
In my youth-team days, I was always a left-winger who would stay close to the byline and put crosses in the box, so I could never cut inside and shoot. It was only when I joined Real Madrid and started playing in a more central position, and then on the right wing, that I suddenly realised I had a really dangerous weapon.
I started off as a right-winger, but my coaches pushed me further and further back. So much so that I ended up in defence, because I wasn't good with my hands and there was nowhere else to go! So they put me there and that's when I found my position.
When I was switching around in my early stages, people underestimated how difficult it was just to go from playing centre midfield to right-back to centre-back to right-back to centre midfield.
I like to play wide, but as a youth, I played more in the middle as a 10.
I think it's a natural progression: a lot of centre-backs start wide when they're young and move inside.
I think it's hard for someone to play short and then come back to second. It's not the same.
If you went and found my draft bio, I wasn't supposed to play left tackle, and I sure as hell wasn't supposed to play it for 12 years.
I've turned into a full-back who pushes forwards whereas in Italy usually the full-back concentrates more on defending.
At Under-11/12, I was playing as a right-back. The manager then was Cyril Helstone, and he said to me, 'No, you're not a defender. You should be in midfield.' That was the big change in my career because from that moment until I made my debut in the first-team at Feyenoord, that was the position I played.
I was someone who used to bat up the order. Due to different reasons, I started batting at No. 7, and that became a permanent slot for me.
In the English 4-4-2 you have to change your mentality from a winger to a left midfielder, having to help your full-back.
