Why Hector is inspired by George Weah's story

Hector Bellerin may not be considering a career in politics after he retires, but he has been hugely impressed by George Weah's rise to power.

After a glittering career spanning three continents, the former World Footballer of the Year became president of Liberia in January.

This is what Hector told Arsenal Media about Weah's path: 

on if he’d consider a career in politics after he retires from football…

I don’t think I would go that way. I was very impressed with George Weah’s story. I knew Arsène Wenger was always very close to him. He spoke about him a few times when we had teamtalks. We knew how much it meant to him when he signed him and then seeing that he evolved to become the president of Liberia. It’s amazing that the power of football can give you that window to raise all these problems and then become the president of your country. When it’s all about helping your country or influencing the people to move forward, it’s something that is amazing. Sometimes people send me messages where they are drinking the same canned water that I drink and say they’ve given up plastic, those things make me happy, even if it’s just one person. I spoke about the plastic issue a couple of months ago. Some kids at a north London school saw it and I had 400 letters from kids at that school saying they’d seen it. They’re just little kids but they’re so understanding of the damage plastic has done. They wrote about seeing a video of a whale, and it’s so sad. When you can influence people, even if it’s just a small group, that’s what makes me happy and makes me not listen to all the bad things people say about me. All of that makes me a thousand times more happy than the other stuff can make me sad.