Walsall's Rico Browne opens up on past trials at Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur
Walsall defender Rico Browne entered the unknown when he returned to England in 2018.
Browne had grown up in Spain, spending two years in the Elche academy, before moving to the West Midlands aged 14.
Birmingham City would be his eventual destination although the defender had an eventful few weeks after he touched down in the UK.
"I came over to Birmingham when I was 14. I had a couple of trials in the meantime at Manchester City, Aston Villa, Coventry and then Blues who ended up taking me," Browne recalled.
"My family is originally from Manchester which is why I went straight to Man City. The level was so high because you're going into one of the best academies in the world.
"The way people see English football in Spain is that it's physical and long ball but these kids were popping it around for fun. It was a real eye opener."
The 20-year-old, who joined Walsall in September, spent six years at Birmingham, playing alongside the likes of Real Madrid and England midfielder Jude Bellingham and fellow Saddlers man George Hall at youth level.
But Browne almost uprooted to London when he had trials at West Ham and Tottenham Hotspur in 2022.
He spent two weeks in North London, working under former Walsall boss Matt Taylor, and was even offered a contract at the end of his trial.
The temptation was there but Browne opted to stay at Blues and continued to build alongside a cohort of talented youngsters.
"I was a first year scholar at Birmingham and I had interest from Tottenham at the time," he revealed.
"There was talk at the time about Blues closing down their academy so I took the option to speak to the club about the fact that I had the chance to move to on to a bigger club and that it would help my development.
"They wanted to retain me as a player but allowed me to go on trial. I went down there for two weeks, which was a good experience, and they ended up offering me a contract.
"Matt Taylor was the under-18s manager at the time. He was a great coach and it was a valuable experience working under a former Premier League player.
"But when I sat back and thought about it, the option to stay at the Blues was better at the time which is why things broke down."
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