Ghanaian defender, Alidu Seidu, has opened up about his challenging upbringing, revealing that he once led a life as a street fighter, using machetes in Kumasi.
The Black Stars player shared his untold experiences, explaining that he had a difficult relationship with formal education and found solace in playing football.
In an interview cited by GhanaWeb, Alidu Seidu said, “I was a little kid who didn't go to school very much and who was always looking for where to play football.”
Despite his passion for the sport, his involvement in football also became a breeding ground for negative influences, leading him down a path of delinquency.
Seidu confessed, "I was also a bit of a bandit. I fought wherever I could. I hit people or people hit me. As I went out all the time, I copied other people's characters; the older ones taught me how to become a bad guy."
Recalling his turbulent youth, Seidu said many of the football matches in his community escalated into violent confrontations, often involving the use of machetes.
"I was waging war against the other neighbourhoods.
"For example, if we played a football match and we lost or there was a problem, we fought. And if there were machetes, we hit each other with them," he explained in the interview with French Ligue Un.
Seidu's life took a positive turn when he was scouted by an agency and enrolled in a football academy.
His breakthrough came when he travelled to France, where he eventually joined the Ligue 1 side Clermont Foot.
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Ghanaian defender, Alidu Seidu