Arsenal and England star Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has revealed his dreams of becoming a professional footballer were nearly dashed before he had celebrated his 16th birthday.
Oxlade-Chamberlain is emerging as one of the rising stars of English football after breaking into the Arsenal first team, but he recalls that his future was on the line as he struggled to convince Southampton youth-team chiefs that he had what it takes to make the step up to the senior ranks.
"People at school used to assume I was going to be a footballer and it wasn't until I got to 16 that I had a doubt for the first time in my life," he told the Daily Mirror. "Southampton said I wasn't big enough to make it, simple as that.
"Everyone at the club shot up at the age of 14, but I didn't do that until I was 16. So during those two years, when I was coming up to 16, Southampton said: 'We don't think you can cope'. They were going to release me and said I had two months to get a scholarship. Then they told me there was a lad who was going to get it ahead of me and that was the first time I realised I might have to say to my friends: 'I am coming to college with you lot'.
"In the end, I got my scholarship and, six months later, I was in the Southampton first team. When it levels out and you get to 17, 18, ability takes over again to a certain extent and that is when I pushed on."
Now his dream has come true.He is a wonderful professional footballer now