Arsenal defender Per Mertesacker has revealed he avoided Germany military service because he was too big!
Conscription was compulsory in Germany until 2010 but Mertesacker reckons his own experience helped shape him as a man.
He told the People: "I missed military service in Germany. I wrote to them and said I did not want to get in touch with weapons, and also that I could not fit into a tank or a submarine - and it worked.
"Instead I did civilian service, I worked in a clinic for patients with mental illness.
"I would train with my club in the morning and go there in the afternoons. It was like a hospital, where no one recognises you and they might shout or scream at you. But I was never scared.
"It was very memorable to go from one world to the other. It kept me grounded and humble, coming from this glamorous football world, and would help me to grow as a person. It had a big impact on my life."
He now has the Per Mertesacker Foundation, an organisation that helps disadvantaged children make a better start to life.
