William Troost-Ekong has opened up about coming through the Tottenham set-up as a youngster and ‘not being good enough’ to breakthrough, as he admitted to Ben Foster’s Cycling GK channel.
The 27-year-old, who is now at Watford, was released by Spurs in 2013 without making a senior appearance and his subsequent road led him to Holland, Turkey and Italy.
After years of sweat on the European continent, Troost-Ekong has finally landed himself back on the doorstep of where it all started.
Even though it would have been difficult for Troost-Ekong when he was released by Spurs, he made it clear that he just ‘wasn’t ready’.
“I started at Spurs, in the academy,” said Troost-Ekong. “I left when I was 19. I was going to turn 20, so I got released.
“I was in the U23’s at the time. We had Tim Sherwood, Les Ferdinand and Chris Ramsey (as youth coaches).
“The first-team manager, at the time, was Villas-Boas. I trained with the first team a couple of times but I wasn’t ready yet. I wasn’t good enough, at the time.”
Troost-Ekong’s first game in England’s top-flight started off with a win because Watford beat Aston Villa 3-2 last Saturday.
Even though Danny Ings scored from the spot-kick, the Nigeria international did pretty well to keep the Englishman at bay during open play.
It may have been a long road for Troost-Ekong, with several difficult journies, but he has fought his way back and will now be looking to thrive in Watford colours.
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