While the diminutive winger is known for his trickery and pace, coaching staff at Chelsea felt he was not big enough to make the grade.
So I was at a few clubs when I was younger. I was at Chelsea when I was a kid, and they released me because they said I was too small," he told The Reds Roundtable.
And then I was just playing with my friends for a year, like Sunday League, (when I was) 11, 12. I was at Fulham, like a pre-academy thing, like you go sometimes, once a week, twice a week, to train, but I didn't really enjoy it.
But then Fulham contacted my father and said 'look, I hear he hasn't got a club, does he want to come for a trial?'. Then I went for a trial at Fulham when I was 13 and then (was there) up until 16 when I left."
I remember them saying that technically I was one of the best in the group, but I was too small," he told the We Are Liverpool Podcast last year.
I don't think I've felt anything like that in my football career so far in terms of how I felt after they said that. Being a young kid knowing you can't get that opportunity to play or get signed.
I thought I was finished, and I wasn't going to have a football career."