A FOOTBALLER who was on Chelsea's books with Mason Mount, Declan Rice and Christian Pulisic admitted it is hard to watch their success.
Tom Carlton, who was with the Blues until the age of 14, played with Mount and Rice at academy level.
And a picture of Carlton with Mount and Pulisic – on trial with Chelsea at the time – went viral on social media.
He told Kent Online: "I didn’t even remember Pulisic being at Chelsea at the time until I saw the picture.
"Apparently, he was there on a 10-day trial and he obviously didn’t get signed at the time.”
Carlton suffered heartbreak with Rice as teenagers when they were released by Chelsea.
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He said: “It was hard to take. It was heartbreaking.
"For a week after I was really upset; I didn’t go back to school for the next couple of days because my head was all over the place.
"But two or three days later my dad was receiving phone call after phone call from different clubs, like West Ham, Charlton, Millwall, Fulham, Birmingham, West Brom – a lot of clubs.”
Carlton was signed by West Ham – alongside Rice – but he suffered setback again when he was not offered a professional contract.
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He did later join Football League side Colchester before eventuallyplaying semi-pro for Herne Bay in the eighth tier.
Carlton has not been left envious of his former team-mates but admitted it was difficult to watch their rise.
He said: "It’s hard, to be honest.
"It’s not because of jealousy or anything like that – fair play to them for making it that far – but it could have been me and that’s why it’s so hard to watch.”
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