Spurs star opens up on difficult football rise – some of his friends are ‘now dead or in jail’

Davinson Sanchez has opened up on his difficult journey to becoming a professional footballer and admitted that things could have ended very differently for him had he gone down the wrong path.

The central defender came in for some criticism for his role in Spurs’ late capitulation against West Ham last Sunday but he proved his mental strength by putting in a solid display on Thursday, keeping Spurs’ first clean sheet of the season against LASK.

Given the journey that Sanchez has been through to get to the top, it is clear where his drive and mental strength comes from.

The 24-year-old may be a multi-millionaire Premier League star now but he admitted that his family struggled financially when he was growing up.

The defender told The Sun: “I started playing football when I was about six and it was sometimes hard to take the bus.

“My father used to take me to training and it was not always easy because he also had to bring food to the table. I would train every day after school from 3.30 pm until 5.30 pm and then I had to take three buses to get home, which would take at least two hours.

“Sometimes I would not get home until 8 pm or 9 pm — and then I would have to do my school homework. Many times I would fall asleep at the table.

“When I started going to training my father used to take me. But that meant we had to buy two bus tickets and it was not easy for us, you know.

“The tickets only cost £2 each but we had to get two or three buses.

“I knew it was costing the family too much money so one day when I was about 10 or 11 I said to him, ‘Look, this is taking away my nest egg! I know the roads and where the buses stop so I am old enough now to travel on my own’.”

When asked if the journey he made was dangerous, Sanchez responded: “At the time I didn’t think so because I was young but I wouldn’t do it now.

“I saw a lot of bad things like drugs and people stealing things.

“I know friends who took what I call the easy way and some of them are now dead, or in jail, because they were involved in bad things.

“But I also have a lot of friends from school who took the right way and they are working in good jobs and are good fathers, brothers and sons.

“It is up to you which path you choose. But taking the easy way was never an option for me.”

The defender also revealed that he had rejected Barcelona’s offer after an impressive season with Columbian giants Atletico Nacional as the Catalonians wanted him to join their reserves.

He added: “The agreement was that I had to go to Barcelona B and from there I had to build up my experience.

“I said to them, ‘You need to check the agreement as I am not going to the second team. If I leave now I want to play for the first team — I don’t want to play for the competition I don’t know’.

“They said, no, so I said the deal was not for me.”

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