Former Tottenham Hotspur defender William Troost-Ekong this week given an interview to Youtube channel E-Perform.
That was a long chat, with over an hour and a half, and some interesting bits are now highlighted by outlet Salernitana News.
Troost-Ekong recalled how his departure from Tottenham went, pointing out he’s gone through difficult times in the early days of his career.
“In dark moments the mental side is very difficult but important. They are the ones that mark you: I was kicked out of the Tottenham academy, I caused a penalty in my first match at the World Cup, last year in the Premier League I decided matches negatively by making some mistakes,” said Troost-Ekong.
“It’s very painful, you experience the negative emotion of these moments, they are upsetting. Looking ahead, you realise that it won’t be the last difficult moments of your career, there will certainly be others. This made me feel fearless, because when you find yourself in a bad moment and you feel that thing is your worst nightmare, you think you have nothing left to lose. When something negative happens to you, you tend to protect yourself so that that situation doesn’t happen again, so again your mindset changes.”
He also revealed that following his departure from Tottenham for Dutch football, a return to England was his main objective, and that’s what he’d been working on until he finally achieved that.
“When I first left England I dreamed of returning. I was hoping to become a first team player: when you play as a kid in a youth academy you can’t wait to make your debut and play your first professional match.”
Troost-Ekong joined Tottenham’s academy in a move from Fulham in 2010. He played for Spurs youth levels until 2013, until ha agreed to a departure to Dutch side FC Groningen.
Since then, he’s played for Groningen, FC Dordrecht, KAA Gent, Haugesund, Bursaspor and Udinese, until agreeing his return to England with a move to Watford in 2020.
He’s currently loaned to Italian side Salernitana, who have a buying option over him. But to this date, he’s officially a Hornets player with a contract until 2025.
