John Bostock: From ‘wonderkid’ with a Barcelona contract offer to 13 clubs in 13 years

If his arrival at Crystal Palace was a dream then his exit was a nightmare, according to Bostock, whose first transfer took him to Tottenham.

“My family and my agent thought it was in my best interests to go to Tottenham. The plan, the set-up, the players I’d be training with. They thought it would be best for my development. If I’m honest I didn’t really have a voice. I was 15 – I saw paper on the table and I was told to sign it.”

As a teenager, Bostock knew any decision he made not only affected him but his family and friends. Even then he understood that football was one of the few professions where one contract could set you up for life.

Palace and Tottenham were unable to agree on a fee, meaning the case went to a tribunal, which arrived at a reported fee close to £2m.

Palace’s chairman at the time, Simon Jordan, openly voiced his disappointment, external at the outcome – even threatening to retract the family’s season ticket.

“We didn’t expect the backlash. Obviously football is a business you understand that and you respect that,” Bostock says.

He says he would regularly visit online chat forums where fans would discuss his transfer.

“They just see a subjective situation and think ‘he’s chasing the money’. I’d get death threats – they’d write things like, ‘I’m going to do this when I see him in the streets’.

“I’m very grateful that I had my family network, more so mentally – people around me I could speak to about mental struggles. Some people just see the football game for what it is but behind it there’s a life, pressures and expectations. I was just a young man trying to chase my dreams.”