Arsenal talent Josh Robinson has revealed that Everton were one of the clubs interested in him before he decided on signing for the Gunners.
The 16-year-old is a centre-back, also capable of playing in midfield, and has impressively already established himself as a regular in the under-18s for his club.
However, things could have been different.
After playing Sunday league football and joining a development centre, the youngster had a trial at Arsenal which initially saw him rejected by the Premier League side.
Robinson has now revealed that both Everton and Queens Park Rangers were interested in signing him following that disappointment, before another trial period at the Gunners later on yielded different results.
He told Arsenal's official website : "I eventually joined a development centre and from there I felt like I really started to improve as a footballer and find my real position.
"I was training with some brilliant coaches who used to play football and that really helped my development.
"I was there for about six months and that’s when I was asked if I wanted to trial for Arsenal. Of course my answer was yes! But it didn’t go to plan at first.
"They rejected me, so I went back to the development centre and carried on playing and working hard until Crystal Palace asked me to go on trial.
"I played with them for a little while and teams like QPR and Everton were interested, but when Arsenal invited me for another trial, I had to take it.
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"They liked me, signed me up and I’ve been here ever since!"
Robinson's first full season with Arsenal saw him line up for the under-12s, and the talented youngster has worked his way consistently through the ranks ever since.
