Wednesday 9 November 2016 16:23, UK
England and West Ham left-back Aaron Cresswell says being released by Liverpool as a teenager left him "devastated".
The 26-year-old was called into Gareth Southgate's England squad as an injury replacement this week and could make his international debut at Wembley in the World Cup Qualifier against Scotland on Friday or in the friendly against Spain on Tuesday.
However, the Hammers defender has revealed his path to the England set-up took a major blow more than a decade ago when he was let go from his boyhood club Liverpool at the age of 15.
"My dad told me in the car," Cresswell told The Telegraph. "I couldn't get my head around it at first. They pull the parents to one side and tell them, 'it's not to be but it's not the end'.
"I was devastated. As a kid, you are in a bubble of playing for Liverpool. It was all I had done for two years and I had enjoyed it so much.
"It wasn't about a job, or thinking, 'I won't make it'. It was about playing for the club I supported. Everyone around me was a Liverpool fan. It was just purely for the love of football.
"My dad said, 'it is not the end of the world. Go back with your mates. Just play with a smile on your face and enjoy it'. That's what I did. I went back with the lads."
Cresswell went on to make his way up the lower leagues with Tranmere Rovers before joining Ipswich and eventually earning a move to West Ham in 2014.
But having witnessed rejection from one of the Premier League's biggest clubs, Cresswell has issued a warning to young players in the top flight.
"If it was my kid, I would always advise them to go on loan," he said. "The lads you are playing with are on nowhere near as much as those in the Premier League; they have got a mortgage to pay, bills to pay and the win-bonuses add up. It really means something rather than the kids playing U21 football.
"When you see the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal, Man City and Man United, there are not many English players coming through. It gets tougher every year, with clubs going scouting around the world, rather than the way it was 20 years ago, when they didn't have this money and it was all about producing your own.
"Will they put a 17-year-old in when they can spend £30m or £40m on someone abroad who has done it in another league? I don't think it is going to change."
