'My mom was upset' - Troost-Ekong on the Tottenham coach that said he'll never make it as a footballer

William Troost-Ekong has admitted that his Dutch mother was visibly upset after his coach at Tottenham Hotspur youth team predicted that he will never make the grade as a footballer.

The Watford center-back has proved his former coach wrong as he is now an established Nigeria international with games under his belt at the World Cup and is now a Premier League star.

Those harsh words from the Tottenham youth team coach motivated Troost-Ekong to work harder and to prove to everyone that he can realize his dream of becoming a professional footballer.

His road to the top was not that smooth as he also suffered rejection when he initially returned to the Netherlands to link up with Groningen.

Signed as a long-term replacement for Virgil van Dijk who switched to Celtic in Scotland, Troost-Ekong was taken off at halftime on his Eredivisie debut against RKC Waalwijk on September 21, 2013 simply because he was not up to scratch.

"I remember one time he had a meeting with my mom, I think it was after my first year as a scholar and he was like I'm going to be really honest to my mom , Will's miles off it and at this rate I can't see him playing even non-league football, League Two, League One," Troost-Ekong told Baller Talk's Femi Ilesanmi, James Alabi and Doe E.

"I felt like crying and I remember seeing my mom , my mom was upset, I've never seen her like that because she backed me against my dad's will to sign for Spurs at the time.

"I came to England originally to go to school, I went to boarding school which is thoughtful, so was already like a big deal that she did that for me, and then all of a sudden after one year she's hearing like this is not really working out so that was the biggest motivation.

"From that moment on I was like Will you need to sort yourself out and that was the chip on my shoulder every time to be like I am going to show everyone, I'm going to show everyone."

Troost-Ekong had spells at Dordrecht, KAA Gent, Haugesund, Bursaspor and Udinese before returning to England to join Watford.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel