Michail Antonio’s journey to the top of English football was anything but straightforward.
The former West Ham forward had to endure rejections, injuries and missed opportunities that threatened to derail his career before it really got going.
One of these first setbacks came at the age of just 14, when a young Antonio was offered a place at a Premier League academy.
Antonio on his early Spurs setback
That opportunity came at Tottenham, only for his mother to turn down the chance.
“Yeah, I was playing for my school team and my teacher, Mr Watson, kind of worked with Spurs,” Antonio tells FourFourTwo. “He got them to come and watch me and another player, we were both quite good.
“They scouted us and I was buzzing, thinking, ‘Oh my God, I’m going to go to Spurs’ academy, this is the start of me becoming a professional.’”
However, when an excited teenage Antonio rushed home to tell his mum, he was handed a reality check.
“I went home to tell my mum – she wasn’t really into football and was like, “Oh, where is it?” I said North London, and she asked, “So when are you going to be going there?”
“I was like, “Every day after school.” She said, “What time will you be getting back?” I said, “Around 11 or 12.”
For Antonio’s mother, this was unacceptable, and she would leave little room for negotiation.
“She said, “No, no chance. Your education comes first, there’s no way that we’re putting your education at risk for football, which isn’t a guarantee.”
Any protests were quickly shot down.
“She was like, “Go upstairs to your bed, you ain’t going nowhere, mate.” I was fuming! I was crying that night non-stop, I thought she’d taken my dream away from me…”
Michail Antonio’s autobiography ‘Humans Not Robots’, published by HarperCollins, is available now