#AskElSha: El Shaarawy answers fan questions on everything from childhood idols to Will Smith

See everything the forward had to say in the transcript below...

Who was your idol when you were young?

“Kakà. I always used to watch him when I was young – when he was at AC Milan. He was my role model, both on and off the pitch. He always came across as really down-to-earth, even before I met him. Then I got to know him one time when we played Real Madrid in a friendly in America and he was exactly as I imagined – a wonderful person besides being a fantastic footballer.”

What advice do you have for youngsters trying to make it in the game?

“My advice is to believe in yourself and show commitment and determination in everything you do. You also need to be very passionate about the game and enjoy it. Obviously you have to hone your skills as well but I think having the right mentality is even more important than technical ability. You must be very consistent too.

"In football it's more about what you do with your head than your legs. I also think it's very important to remain humble. Real winners are those who remain humble despite being successful. When I was young I sought out advice from my friends and family. I'd ask them where they thought I could improve.”

What's your favourite place in Rome?

“Rome is a fabulous city with so many beautiful places. There are loads really. I was particularly impressed by the Colosseum as I'd never seen it before. I'd only been to Rome a few times before and seen Piazza di Spagna. I must say I love EUR too, which is where I live. It's a quiet area and I really like it.”

What's your favourite place in Italy?

“Savona. That's where I was born and grew up. Whenever I get a day off I go back there and it energises me. My family are there and I've bought a house by the sea so I can relax. Of course all my friends are there too so it's invigorating for me.”

What's your relationship with Mohamed Salah like? What sort of relationship do you have with Egypt?

“I have a great relationship with Salah. He's another one who besides being a fantastic player is a wonderful person, really humble. He's much more mature than you'd think for his age. He's got his head screwed on properly and has strong moral values. We got on really well right from the start. His Italian's getting better now too so we can communicate better.

“I feel a very strong connection with Egypt, my father's homeland. Unfortunately I don't speak Egyptian but my dad translates all the messages and the compliments I receive from Egyptians and it's really nice. I've been there several times.”

When was the last time you visited Alexandria?

“I went there when I was a boy, I can't remember how old exactly. I travelled around the whole country, from the Pyramids to Cairo, Abu Simbel, Assuan and the Valley of the Kings. Then I went to see my dad's relatives in a city near Cairo called Tanta, which, incidentally, is near where Salah's from.

"I haven't been able to go back for a few years because of all the various football commitments I've had with Italy and so on, but I'm planning on going back in the next few years.”

How did your dab celebration with Leo Paredes come about?

“Before the [Palermo] game we decided that if either of us scored we'd do the dab and we prepared this little routine. That's it really. Luckily I scored.”

Who's your favourite actor?

“There are lots but two I like in particular are Denzel Washington and Will Smith. I watch all their films.”

What about TV series?

“I watched Lost, which is great. You don't really understand what's going on but it gets you hooked! To think they spent six years filming that in Hawaii... Prison Break is another one I liked. I think there's a new series coming out.”

Do you have any pets?

“No.”

Is there one team-mate in particular who you're especially close to?

“Well, there's Momo [Salah], as I've already said. We always go out to eat together after games. But they're all very happy, smiley people and I get on really well with the lot of them. We often go out together for meals and that helps us bond even more as a team.”

What was your childhood like?

“It was a very good one. I managed to study and play football at the same time and I finished school so it was good. I broke into the first team at a very young age and that helped me grow in every sense of the word.”

What was your favourite subject?

“Err... Can I say P.E.? Apart from that I was good at Italian.”

Do you have any pre-match rituals?

“Yes, lots. I'm very superstitious. But being superstitious I can't tell you them! I can give you a clue though: in the next match look closely at what I do as I enter the field.”

Aldo says his six-year-old son wants hair like yours. What should he do?

“There's only one thing to do and that's to take him to my hairdresser! I have three actually – one in Savona, one in Milan and one here in Rome.”

How long does it take you to comb your hair in the morning? And what gel do you use?

“Not very long at all. It hardly needs anything doing to it nowadays. I don't even comb it. I just give it a blow with the hairdryer, use a bit of wax – not gel – and some hair spray to hold it in place and that's it.”

What happened with that head bandage against Sassuolo?

“I was headbutted by a defender and I was bleeding so the ref asked me to go off to get it bandaged up. The physio wanted to wrap it up but it was annoying me and I told him it would only last 10 seconds. Luckily it stopped bleeding so I didn't have to keep it on for long. It was really uncomfortable and I couldn't play properly with it on.”

Was there a moment when you realised that you might make it as a professional footballer?

“I don't think there was a precise moment because it was a gradual process, although it happened very quickly. But when I made my debut at 16 I thought, 'Well, I just might make it.' That was a key moment in my career. It was Chievo v Genoa, the 84th minute. [Bosko] Jankovic got cramp and had to come off so [Gian Piero] Gasperini told me to warm up as I was going on. It was 0-0 at the time and we won it 1-0 – [Ruben] Olivera scored – so it was a dream debut. That was 21 December 2008.”

Where did you first develop your passion for football?

“It started before I joined any club, with my dad – he gave me a passion for the game on the pitches below our house. I went back to those pitches with a couple of friends the other day when I had the day off. I hadn't been back for ages and we walked along the seafront where we used to play. It was a really nice stroll down memory lane.

“When I was five or six I joined Legino, a club in Savona, and stayed there till I was 10 or 11, when I joined Genoa. I worked my way up through the academy to the first team, won a Primavera Scudetto with Genoa then went to Padova on loan. After that AC Milan... and the rest is history.”

What was the first match you saw at the stadium?

“I don't remember it actually because I was in a pushchair! But my dad me he took me to Marassi to see Genoa. As I grew up, I went to see more Genoa games, and I was a ball boy there too. It's a wonderful ground.”

What's your favourite dish?

“Trofie al pesto – a typical Genovese dish. I love that stuff. Although cacio e pepe is pretty good here in Rome!”

Do you like Chinese?

“Yes, I like Cantonese fried rice.”

See the full video below (in Italian).