Former Swansea City wonderkid Kenji Gorre has revealed how a conversation with legenedary Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson once left him in tears.
Gorre joined the Red Devils back in 2002 from cross-city rivals Manchester City, and spent 10 years in the youth set-up at Old Trafford, and was in the same academy side as Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingaard.
He became a highly-rated prospect, and was even the subject of interest from Arsenal and Chelsea, but decide to stay with United.
However, despite his loyalty, Gorre was released by the club at the age of 19, and was delivered the news by way of a crushing conversation with Sir Alex Ferguson.
Gorre, speaking on the ThreeSixtyTV series released , said: "My coach Paul McGuinness said to me, 'The boss wants to speak to you', and I was like 'Wow, what's going on here, I’m going into the office'. So I knocked on the door and Sir Alex says 'Come on son, come in. Kenji, first of all I appreciate you and I appreciate you as a man. You've had an amazing 10 years here and I can give you a contract right now, but I know that’s not going to do you any good'.
"And that's when he started to share with me how there were a lot of guys in front of me. He started naming names like Andreas Pereira, Adnan Januzaj, Nani and all these guys who were ahead of me at that time.
"And then he said 'I know that you're not gonna get the game time that you deserve, and I know the quality that you've got. This is the right time for you to move on and I want to thank you for your 10 years of being here'.
"I remember shaking his hand and saying thank you so much, and then I shut the door behind me. And I remember going downstairs, getting into my car and I just burst out crying. I just let it all out. I remember feeling like I'd let everyone down. I've let my parents down who have sacrificed their life for me, that's how it felt.
"It was so heavy. And I can remember not knowing who I was anymore. What was I gonna tell my friends? They knew me as Kenji Gorre, the guy that played for Manchester United, and I'd been that guy from 6 years old. Now I'm 18 and I don't know who I am."
He added: "I remember the next morning, my dad was making breakfast downstairs, the music was on – Bob Marley, Don’t Worry etc. He was just making his breakfast and then he said to me; ‘Sit down. Listen to me. When one door closes, another one opens’.
"And that’s when my shoulders just went down, and it was exactly what I needed at that time. He said ‘where do you wanna go?’, and that’s when my whole perspective changed, and I thought where do I want to go? What is it that I want? What do I desire? Where is it that I want to play?
"That’s when I took a pen and went down through every team that was below United, and I thought where am I gonna break through into this first team? I remember looking at West Ham, but thinking there were quite a lot of guys there, looking at a couple of other teams, looked at Swansea thinking they were pretty lit; Nathan Dyer on one side, Wayne Routledge on the left.
"Thinking this team is hard, but I’d love to play there! I remember looking at their U23s thinking what wingers would be ahead of me, and I remember saying to my dad that this team would be perfect."
Gorre would eventually fulfil his ambitions of a move to south Wales in 2013, after initially shining on a trial at Everton, and again established himself as a promising young talent.
"I remember looking at Everton and thinking I would really suit the team there as well. And shortly after, I went on trial at Everton. I remember my confidence just being knocked after being released by Manchester United, but I was ready to go and show how good I was. I had some fire inside me, where I was going to show the world just how good I am. And I remember going into training and it was the best that I’ve ever trained, the best I’ve ever played. And I remember Darron Gibson coming over to me after training and saying ‘don’t worry, you’re gonna get a deal bro’, and he even went to the coach saying ‘sign him!’
"After that knock, I was thinking I’m actually a good player, because I’d started to doubt myself, I started to feel like I wasn’t good enough. I started to question, am I gonna make it? And I can remember after the week that I trained with them, the coach then came to me and he said ‘We’re not gonna offer you a contract’. I remember getting in the car with my dad and I was mad-confused! I was like Huh? Seriously?! I just didn’t get it, but I was so confident and I’d taken so much away from that time that I was thinking I’ve already gained here.
"It was crazy because there was also someone else on that trial, and there was an agent there as well and they had watched that training session, and that agent ended up going to Swansea and saying ‘you need to sign this guy’. And from there, the next week, I signed a two-year deal with Swansea."
Gorre would go on to spend five years at Landore, although he'd make just one Premier League appearance for the Swans, before following up loan spells with Den Haag and Northampton Town with a move to Nacional in 2018.
When WalesOnline caught up with the winger back in 2020, it was clear he was enjoying his new life in Portugal.
Indeed, he's still out there, having recently signed for Boavista, one of the biggest clubs, where he's played over 43 games.
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