“I’m being scouted and I’m over the moon. How do you deal with being an exciting young prospect without believing your own hype?
Craig Monk, via Twitter
Jermaine Jenas says:
“For some, it’s going to London that changes things. For me, it was Newcastle. I was the most expensive teenager in the world.
The key was having friends who kept my feet on the ground. I kept going back to Nottingham and seeing my own people. They always treated me the same as ever, and if I ever did start to veer off course, they’d nail me. I wouldn’t listen to a lot of people, but when they spoke to me, I did listen.
There are some bad people in the game who are looking to use young players. Be wary of anyone who is trying to bring a deal to the table. You can make a lot of money, but it’s easy to lose it all.
Try to keep people around you that you trust. That might be your agent, your mum, your best mate – you need that second opinion.
As for believing your own hype, I’m a strong adviser for actually doing that – to a degree. I don’t like players to be suppressed: it’s a tough sport and you need some arrogance, ego and swagger to survive. If you lose your belief, you lose 50 per cent of yourself.”
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