Salomon Kalou kicks off his slippers to reveal the scars on his feet, all of the stud marks from a time when he played barefoot against opponents in boots.
The Chelsea forward, 24, can’t remember who was responsible. It was a long time ago. But it might have been Kolo Toure, now of Manchester City, or Yaya Toure, the younger brother now at Barcelona.
It could have even been Arsenal’s Emmanuel Eboue or Sevilla’s Didier Zokora, because before they took their talent to Europe they all lived and played together at an academy in their native Ivory Coast.
A hugely successful production line funded by the ASEC Mimosas club, the Academie Jean Marc Guillou was a tough school. ‘You had to earn the right to wear boots,’ says Kalou. ‘I arrived there when I was 12. Left my home and my family. They were now four hours away. And the first thing you are told is no boots. You play barefoot.
‘I was there for five years and it took me two years to get my boots. The coach, Jean Marc Guillou (a former French international who played in the 1978 World Cup), said if you can feel the ball without the boots you will feel it better when you have them on. Not until you got to a certain level were you allowed to wear boots. And even then you first had to pass a test.’
The test, says Kalou, was something they called ‘the degree’.
‘It was a technical test, divided into a number of different tasks. In one of them you had to dribble the ball on your head for the whole length of the pitch in less than 45 seconds. If you passed four sections but failed the fifth, you failed the whole thing and had to wait for another opportunity.
‘Those who passed got their boots. A new pair of adidas Copa Mundials. Beautiful. But those who failed had to keep playing barefoot, even though you then had to train with the players wearing boots. I did not pass first time and I did worry that I would have to play barefoot for ever.
'Especially when the players in boot would sometimes stamp on you to let you know they were there!’
Not that Kalou is bitter. He remembers the experience with fondness. Not least the friendships formed. Only this week he spoke to both Yaya Toure and Eboue about that extraordinary game at the Nou Camp on Tuesday night.
‘Every top player from Ivory Coast, with the exception of Didier (Drogba), who was brought up in Paris, went through the academy,’ he says. ‘They believed in a process, in a way of developing our skills, and everything was geared towards becoming a professional footballer.
‘I did not see much of my family once I was there. We would maybe get one day off a week and a four-hour journey was too much if I had to get there and back in a day. So we all spent a lot of time together; became great friends.’
Kalou is bright. Fluent in French, English and Dutch, he is the product of another strict disciplinarian — his father Antoine, headmaster at their local elementary school.
‘I have eight sisters and two brothers and we were all educated by my father,’ he says. ‘At home he was the sweetest father, but at school he was tough. Directeur Kalou!
‘There were 17 of us in a three- bedroom house in Oume, the town where we lived. My parents, me and my brothers and sisters. And four cousins who came to live with us because in Africa, if you have a little bit, other family members want to share with you.
'We would sleep on mats on the floor but I don’t complain. It was good. It makes me the person I am. I understand what it means to respect other people and share with people.’
Antoine Kalou taught his children well. While one brother, 32-year-old Bonaventure, went into professional football, he plays for Heerenveen having captained the Ivory Coast side in the last World Cup, his other brother studied economics in Detroit and now works in the banking sector in Toronto.
He has sisters who live in Paris and one sister, Adelaide, who lives near him and visits every day to cook his meals and take care of him.
Their father did, however, have a passion for football.
‘He was a good footballer in his day as well,’ says Kalou. ‘A striker like me. But he went for teaching, because at that time there was no money in football. Today parents push their kids as hard to become footballers as they do to study.’
Football, as Sven Goran Eriksson will discover now that he has taken charge of the national team for this summer’s World Cup, is a serious business in Ivory Coast.
‘It has become a religion,’ says Kalou. ‘When we lost the quarter-final to Algeria in the Africa Cup of Nations, the coach was sacked and the president of the federation had to face questions on TV from the fans. Can you imagine that here?’
Kalou is excited by the prospect of working with Eriksson in preparation for the World Cup’s group of death. ‘With Brazil and Portugal it will not be easy,’ he says.
‘But we have a top coach in Mr Eriksson and when Didier and I spoke with him we were very impressed. John Terry and Frank Lampard have also told us good things about him.’
Had the Dutch government not rejected his application for citizenship, Kalou would have represented Holland in the last World Cup.
He moved from the academy to join his brother at Feyenoord in Holland at 17 and by the time he was 21, playing alongside Dirk Kuyt in attack, he had impressed enough to convince Marco van Basten to apply for special dispensation.
‘I had been in Holland for four years but you needed to be there for five years to become a Dutch citizen,’ says Kalou. ‘It was a very exciting time. Van Basten was voted the best player in the world three times and he wanted me to be a member of his World Cup squad.
‘My brother would have been disappointed because Holland and Ivory Coast were drawn in the same group, but at that stage I had never represented Ivory Coast and being part of the Dutch squad would have been a big deal. Now, however, I am proud to play for Ivory Coast.’
Jose Mourinho convinced him to give up his Dutch dream. ‘I was told I would have to wait another year for citizenship and I was prepared to do that until I met Mourinho,’ he says. ‘Chelsea were interested and I went to see Mourinho in a London hotel.
‘But from the moment I met Mourinho I wanted to play for him. He knew things about my game even I hadn’t been aware of. He started to tell me how to improve my game. Do this, don’t do that. “Have you been following me?” I said. “Of course I have,” he replied.
‘I thought I can get better under this guy. He is an amazing character, and someone who is true to his word. He helped make me the player I am. He made me strong. I am getting better with each season and I am proud of that.’
Kalou has good things to say about most of the managers he has served. Carlo Ancelotti has impressed him with how he responded to that Champions League defeat to Inter Milan.
‘The way he stayed calm impressed me most,’ says Kalou. ‘He kept telling us we could still win the Premier League. That we could go to Manchester United and win. The Portsmouth game was the turning point. After we won that, the confidence returned and now we hope to win the Premier League and the FA Cup.’
