The details of the World Cup draw 2:29
(CNN) --
French soccer player Aurélien Tchouaméni saved the phrase "aim for the highest cloud" on his phone, which he pulled from a book about the New Zealand All Blacks' legacy.
It serves as a reminder in his young football career to "get up every day and be better than yesterday."
And while reports continue to circulate about the club he will play for next season, the AS Monaco star is helping him stay focused on his own development.
"I am an ambitious person. Every time I do something (...) I just want to win," Tchouaméni says in an exclusive interview with CNN Sport.
"If I want to be great, I have to adapt to find some things that allow me to grow as a player."
Tchouaméni, who turned 22 earlier this year, seems to have greatness within his grasp having established himself as one of the best midfielders in European football.
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He is a valuable box-to-box player in attack and defense who has been essential for Monaco since joining from Bordeaux two years ago.
This week he was included in the team of the season of the French newspaper
L'Equipe
and considered the third best player in the league, behind Kylian Mbappé, of Paris Saint-Germain, and Martin Terrier, of Rennes.
Tchouaméni celebrates in a match against Rennes on April 15.
Tchouaméni's performance at Monaco has made him one of the most sought-after players in Europe, and Real Madrid and Liverpool are said to be interested in signing him for next season.
"I like both things: I can watch the Spanish games and the English ones," he says.
"It's different to play in Spain and it's different to play in England, but in the end, for me, it's just a matter of adaptation."
During the recently ended Ligue 1 campaign, Tchouaméni's talents were instrumental in Monaco almost automatically qualifying for next season's Champions League.
However, a last-minute equalizer by Lens in Monaco's final game saw the club finish third in the league, behind Marseille, and miss out on the Champions League, although it is still possible that it will come through. the qualifying phase.
Monaco have earned a reputation for developing some of the best young players in European football.
Players like Mbappé and Bernardo Silva of Manchester City began their careers on the French Riviera.
Before them, former French internationals David Trezeguet, Thierry Henry and Emmanuel Petit passed through Monaco.
These are the players who attracted Tchouaméni to the club in the first place.
"I tried to find a lot of players who came here young and have grown up, and who could play for a bigger club at the end of their career here in Monaco," he says.
Tchouaméni's work to "welcome expectations"
In a bid to develop as a player and maximize his potential, Tchouaméni says he has made a number of changes to his daily life: he has hired a personal chef and a physical therapist so he can eat and recover better at home, and speaks regularly with a coach. mental to improve the psychological aspect of your game.
He has also drawn on the experience of midfielder team-mate Cesc Fabregas, who has spent nearly 20 years playing for Europe's top clubs.
"He's a football legend, so when I got here, my first idea was to ask him a lot of questions: his movements, how he passes the ball," says Tchouaméni.
"For me it's easy because I have one of the best midfielders in football, he helps me a lot (...) Here I have everything to develop and grow as a player".
Tchouaméni's rise at Bordeaux and Monaco has also been accompanied by challenges.
He says that in the first year of his professional career, he found it difficult to ignore disparaging comments on social media about his performance on the pitch.
"When I was 18 years old and played a game badly, a lot of people said 'you're not capable of playing in this league' or 'you don't have the level to be good,'" he says.
"And I was like, 'OK, maybe they're wrong or maybe they're not.' It's hard to think about that because you're so young, but you have to face it.
Tchouaméni scored his first goal for France this year.
"That's why I work with (a sports psychologist) and it allows me to embrace expectations and know that no matter what they say, I'm still doing my thing."
Tchouaméni, of Cameroonian descent but who represented France throughout his youth career, made his international debut last year.
He scored his first goal for France in a 2-1 win against Côte d'Ivoire in March, and hopes to make his World Cup debut later this year when France defend their world champion status in Qatar.
"You can ask everyone in our team. Nobody wants to go to the World Cup to say 'I want to be in the quarter-finals, that's fine, and maybe the semi-finals, that's fine,'" says Tchouaméni.
"No, everyone wants to win (...). It will be our goal."
If he makes it to the World Cup, his favorite adage will surely cross his mind: aim for the highest cloud.