GILBERTO SILVA

CLUBS

1997-2000 America Mineiro

2000-02 Atletico Mineiro

2002-08 Arsenal

2008-11 Panathinaikos

2011-13 Gremio

2013 Atletico Mineiro

COUNTRY

2001-10 Brazil “I’m around the corner; see you soon.” Brazilians may not be known for their punctuality, but barely two minutes after hanging up the phone, Gilberto Silva walks into the St James’ Court hotel in central London to meet FFT.

The 43-year-old is pretty much still the same slim figure he was in his playing days, even though it’s six years since he played his last professional game and he’s notably absent from the perennial circuit of legends matches. “My knees wouldn’t allow me now,” says Gilberto.

Although his playing career wound up back in his native Brazil, the ex-Arsenal midfielder was indeed just around the corner today: he returned to London a few months ago so that his son and daughter, Gilberto Junior and Isabella, can finish their secondary studies at an international school. The family live in a Westminster apartment – a change of scenery from his previous residency in the capital, when he called the north London suburbs home.

Gilberto spent six happy seasons with the Gunners. More than a decade later, he’s here to tackle your questions about a career in which he won the World Cup and became an Invincible...

Is it true you had to quit football as a teenager to get a job instead?

Thiago Nunes, Sao Paulo

It wasn’t a matter of giving up – it was a matter of necessity. I was 15 and had been at the America Mineiro academy in Belo Horizonte for five months when my family’s financial situation got really bad. My mother had some health issues, so I went back to my home town to get a job and help them out. For more than two years I worked in a caramel factory – I still remember helping to roll and cut the sweets. In the beginning we would feast on them, but soon even smelling them made my tummy ache.

Then things got much better at home, so I decided to give football another go. I was 19: it would be my last chance to play professionally. I’m still very grateful that America took me back. Luckily I’d never stopped playing. I’d appeared for amateur sides, including one run by the caramel factory. All I wanted was