Growing up in east London, I played Sunday League football like most of my friends did.

I competed in the Echo Premier League, where I came up against a team called Senrab which had once had the likes of Bobby Zamora, Ashley Cole, John Terry and Paul Konchesky on their books.

Whenever my team, Barking Colts, faced Senrab we knew we would be coming up against some of the better youngsters the area had to offer.