Chris Willock has heard all the stories about Premier League academy talents failing to make the cut, but sometimes it doesn't feel like that to the QPR star.
The forward took a roundabout route to the Championship club, coming through the ranks at Arsenal before spending time in Portugal with Benfica. However, since returning to English football, he can barely move for familiar faces from various stages in his young career.
Willock's younger brother Joe has carved a path for himself in the Premier League, while other Hale End graduates including Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka have made the step up to the first team.
The QPR man could also have Premier League football in his future, though, after the London side spent the majority of last season in the Championship play-off spots, and the 24-year-old spoke to Mirror Football about the different paths available to those who want to reach the highest level.
"I feel like every game there's someone I know, which is funny, you know," Willock says. "I think someone said to me less than 1 per cent make it from an academy into professional football, but it seems to me like every game I'm playing, there's someone where I'm having a 20 minute conversation after the match about life and football and stuff.
"It's good to see players I know playing well, and enjoying it as well - not just from my perspective but to see where they've gone onto. Some of the players like [new QPR teammate] Jake Clarke-Salter, I've played against them it feels like a million times.
"It's always good to see familiar faces, and to see there's other routes - not straight into the first team. Sometimes you might have to do other things to make it in football."
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It's easy for two players' paths to cross in very different circumstances, as was the case with Willock and Smith Rowe. The pair played together as loanees at Huddersfield Town, helping them avoid relegation from the Championship in 2019-20, but it was far from their first encounter.
Willock and Smith Rowe weren't in the same age group at Arsenal, with the latter two years younger, but the Gunners' number 10 was able to accelerate through the ranks. Smith Rowe made his senior debut just two months after his 18th birthday, and at the age of 22 he is already a full England international.
"I remember Emile coming to training when he must have been 16 and I was in the reserves," Willock says. "He was still young and I always kind of knew that given his opportunity he could be a young player who could make it. So I wish him all the best in his career and hopefully he'll go even further than what he's done.
"It's good to see them doing well, the likes of Smith Rowe, Saka, Eddie Nketiah," he continues. "It gives me joy and pleasure when I see them play. Not just then but the other players that have gone on to play at other clubs like Stephy Mavididi in the French league. I'm really pleased to see all the boys doing well who I've grown up with playing football as kids, to see them in the Premier League and the top leagues around the world is just an amazing feeling.
"It's good for the young players growing up as well to see there is a pathway there if you stick at the game. They've come from day one to where they are now so it shows that if you work hard and put your mind to it there are opportunities there and top clubs around the world will give opportunities to young players. It's an inspiration for other people as well."
Willock says he'd love to get the chance to face his former club, but adds that a meeting with any top Premier League side this season would be great - if only to give QPR an idea of how close they are to rejoining the big time. The west London side haven't played top-flight football since 2015, and now have Michael Beale in the dugout after the manager left his post at Aston Villa.
Like the forward, Beale has some experience of football outside the UK - something which many English players and coaches might never encounter. The former Liverpool coach spent time in Brazil at Sao Paulo, and Willock is excited about hearing some of Beale's stories from that period.
"I think all my background, from Arsenal and Benfica [onwards], has informed the way I'm playing now," he says. "I feel like this gaffer and the way he wants to play suits my background, so I'm looking forward to carrying on and seeing where we go as a team.
"He wants the ball through the lines and I like getting the ball through the lines. He wants us to play football at the end of the day and keep the ball on the floor as much as we can and be an attacking team.
"I'd love to play against Arsenal, but any of the big teams, it would be nice to play against them just to see where we're at. To see how far we are from them, just to see the difference, and hopefully that can happen."
QPR lost their opening game of the season, suffering a 1-0 defeat away to Blackburn Rovers, but will have a chance to get off the mark as they welcome Middlesbrough to Loftus Road on Saturday.
Willock scored in the home and away meetings with Boro last season, ending the campaign with seven goals, but isn't setting himself a specific target after more than doubling his tally from the previous season.
"I'm not going to put a number out there, I'm just going to work my hardest in training and try to improve on last season and... be the best player I can be," he says. "I'm not saying there's targets or goals, but just to improve on last season and see where that leads me."
