Manchester United's Eric Bailly 'looked up to' Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos as a youngster

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Manchester United defender Eric Bailly has admitted that he used to look up to Sergio Ramos during his younger days as a footballer.

The Ivorian has risen to prominence at Old Trafford after joining the club from Villarreal last summer and is already focused on following in the footsteps of former United defenders Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic.

Despite his early hopes of becoming a striker, Bailly admitted that it was Ramos who he repeatedly turned to in his attempts to progress as a professional.

"As a young child I always like to play football in different positions,” he said.

"As a child I was following Marseille, looking up to my compatriot playing there, Didier Drogba, and my team was Marseille as a child.

"I would try to be as a striker even though I wasn't and once I started growing up and seeing that professional football was a step closer I would look at Sergio Ramos that I liked a lot.

"I always looked up to Ramos as an example footballer and watched him a lot."

Since joining United in June of last year, the 23-year-old has gone to establish himelf as a key component in United’s new-look defence.

Although Bailly said he’ll never be able to emulate the achievements of Ferdinand and Vidic at United, he insisted he would try nonetheless.

"You have to take the example of who has played here. Vidic, Ferdinand, they are players I cannot do the same as they did but I have to try to follow in their steps.

"It is very difficult but everything is achieved with hard work, keeping my head high to keep moving forward and I hope that happens in my case.

"I've had the luck to have a manager, Jose Mourinho, to learn more, work hard and listen to what he says.

"When I came to Manchester, it was a bigger step from when I was in Villarreal and I was very happy with my signing here at Manchester.

"The manager had confidence in me and brought me as his first signing. It is something that is not easy, when you come to the team there are players that have more experience in the English league and I had to see how the football was played.”