Former Tottenham rising star John Bostock has opened up about the problems he faced early in his Spurs career which nearly made him quit football.
There was a lot of hype surrounding the youngster when he signed for Spurs from Crystal Palace in 2008, however things didn't quite work out how he or the club envisioned. In his five years at White Hart Lane he failed to make a single Premier League appearance for the first team, and as instead loaned out five times as he struggled to find a permanent home.
After five frustrating years, Bostock decided to move on from Tottenham and secured a permanent move away to Belgian Second Division side Royal Antwerp in 2013.
Now at his 12th club of his career, the Englishman is currently playing his football in Ligue 1 for Toulouse where he has made a solid start to the season with his new club.
His fortunes look to finally be changing, however speaking in an interview with L'Equipe (via Sport Witness) Bostock reflected on his younger days at Tottenham, admitting he made the wrong choice in leaving Spurs and that outside influencers affected his decision making. He said: "At 15, you do not choose.
"The club wanted to keep me. But my agent, my family, people put a lot of pressure on me to leave. It was not my choice.
"There were different reasons I left, including the pressure of money. But I think I should have stayed there because I had chances to play. If I could go back, I would stay."
It's been a tough few years for a man who was once tipped to be one of England's hottest young prospects, and he even went onto admit how his career went so sour he even considered stopping.
He added: “I learned from my loans but it’s hard when you cannot find a place where you feel loved. Especially since my career was starting and everyone was expecting great things from me.
“Now that I’m older, I appreciate those hard times because they helped me become stronger. But, initially, they almost broke me.
"There was even one time I was close to stopping. When you love something so hard and it does not work, there is nothing worse. It’s not that I did not like this sport anymore, but I had lost confidence.”
After what has been a torrid time for Bostock, he finally looks to have found a club where he enjoys his football. Having already featured nine times in Toulouse's opening 13 games of the season, the midfielder will be hoping he can continue to perform well and finally show some of the ability he once promised to show as a youngster.
Source : 90min