Sakho: ‘Nobody can tell me that I don’t know what it’s like to not have food in the fridge’

The house’s style is minimalist and of exquisite taste. Relaxed and frequently smiling, French international Mamadou Sakho sits on a sofa in an immaculate white T-shirt.

If he smiles a lot Sakho is also extremely thoughtful. He talks of his desire “to study” in the future — “football is a closed world and I like to open my mind,” he tells CNN Sport — and he is keen to discuss his charity projects, one that will involve working with South London barber Nikky Okyere.