Football can often be a series of ‘what-ifs’. Split-second decisions, either on or off the pitch can dictate players’ whole careers or the trajectory of even the biggest of clubs.
For promising young players, an early move can shape their career for better or for worse. Some will find the right club at a young age, others may stay loyal to their childhood club and either excel on home soil or wonder what could have been,
A former Feyenoord youngster has now reached that stage of his career where he is looking back at what could have been following early links to two of the Premier League’s biggest clubs.
Luis Pedro opens up on turning down Arsenal and Man United
Back in the 2007/08 season, Luis Pedro was making waves with Feyenoord’s reserve team, breaking into the Netherlands U18s and U19s teams in the process.
The Angolan-born forward was the top scorer for Feyenoord’s reserve team that season and on the verge of breaking into the first team, as scouts from across Europe began to be alerted to his progress.
This included interest from both Arsenal and Manchester United, but the player himself dreamed of being a mainstay for Feyenoord.
“I used to be of interest to really big clubs,” Pedro told Feyenoord Pings.
“Arsenal was concrete and Manchester United was concrete. I always wanted Feyenoord first. That was just the dream. When you are in the stadium, and you play those matches…. Feyenoord, for me, that’s just home. That’s the most beautiful feeling.”
Pedro would go on to make just ten first-team appearances for the Dutch side, before embarking on something of a journeyman career that included spells at Go Ahead Eagles, Heracles and Levski Sofia before he finally made it to England with Carlisle United in 2016, but would make only one 17-minutes appearance for the Cumbrian side.
Pedro is now 34 years old and without a club, with his comments going to show that he clearly wonders what would have happened if he had joined Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United or Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal sides 17 years ago.
But in FourFourTwo’s view it’s refreshing to see a player stay loyal to his home side and talk of the ‘beautiful feeling’ that this brings.
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