"We know that a man is not made alone."
It was March 2015, and Kalidou Koulibaly was speaking after being made a "citizen of honour" of Saint-Die-des-Vosges, the town of 20,000 people in northeastern France where he grew up and which he still thinks of as home.
Wearing a denim shirt, ripped jeans and a black hoodie, he spoke thoughtfully about the journey that had taken him from the concrete tower blocks of the Kellermann estate in Saint-Die-des-Vosges to the iconic stadiums of Serie A. His parents and brothers looked on approvingly, along with his girlfriend, friends, former team-mates and local dignitaries who had gathered inside Saint-Die's town hall for the ceremony.