In an age of crazy wages and mega transfer fees, the motivation of players at the top level is often called into question. Can you really be playing for the love of the game when your weekly pay packet eclipses the annual salary of those who come to watch you?
But Max Gradel still remembers vividly the instinctive, emotional attachment he has always had to the game, and the sacrifices he went through to realise his potential.
Growing up in Abidjan, the capital of the Ivory Coast, the Bournemouth winger was not meant to play football – there were other priorities – but he never let that stop him.