AC Milan striker Jeremy Menez admits football rescued him from a life of crime.

Menez has been a revelation for Milan this season.

"Perhaps, and I underline perhaps because I cannot know for sure, without football I'd be in prison," he told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"After all, many of my friends from the Banlieu 94 ended up there: theft, drugs, that sort of thing you fall into when you are young. You'd want everything, but there isn't any money.

"I kept in contact with them when they were inside and every time it was like realising how thin the line is that divides a happy life with one that is ruined.

"I left the Banlieu at right time, aged 13, for a move to Sochaux. At 16 I stayed there and turned down Manchester United, even though Ferguson wanted me, as I didn't feel it was the right moment. I am not saying it would've been a bad move, but I felt I was too young for a step like that and I wasn't ready.

"I might've had a better career, but I don't know that for sure. In any case, I never regretted that decision."