Former Liverpool academy player David Moli has opened up about his career change from Premier League prospect to painter after his playing days were ended by injury at the age of 24.
Moli joined the Reds academy in 2009 from Luton Town, progressing through the under-16 and under-18 sides in the years that followed until eventually moving on to sign his first professional contract with Wolves in 2012.
As a 17-year-old he was also involved in the England youth setup, and a promising career was in sight. Unfortunately, injuries were his downfall, and an anterior cruciate ligament tear at 24 ended his career.
As an avid illustrator in his early years, the Democratic Republic of the Congo-born striker reverted back to his artistic ways. He picked up a paintbrush for the first time, and over the following years honed his craft to a point where he now sees his pieces hang in the houses of professional footballer - even those that were once his colleagues.
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One such example is former Liverpool winger Raheem Sterling, who Moli lived with when both played together for the club's academy, as well as Manchester City's Jack Grealish and Real Madrid's Antonio Rudiger.
Having recently opened a temporary exhibition in London featuring paintings of icons such as such as Pele and Diego Maradona, the man now known as 'Boogie' Moli in the art world had been speaking to The Mirror.
He expressed his feelings about the fact he wasn't able to reach his potential on the pitch, detailing how there was no regrets for how his life has played out.
He said: "I don’t think this exhibition I have on now would have been here if I’d carried on playing. Everything happens for a reason and I’m just glad everything happened the way it happened.
“It was a very difficult time when I finished playing because I went from training every day and playing games to sitting at home doing nothing.
"And then seeing people I played with having amazing careers — Chuba Akpom, Luke Shaw — it was just hard for me to know I could be out there because I had the skills and talent to be with those guys.
"But I don’t think that if I’d have done this after 30 it would have been the same result because I wouldn’t have had the same mind-frame that I had at 24."
Asked what his ambitions are, as well as completing a piece of artwork for his childhood hero Didier Drogba, Moli added: "I’m only just getting started.”
"Sothebys, Christie’s [auction houses], they are the places I want to be, they are the goals I want to achieve,"
"I have done great so far, but the goals I have are much bigger, to work with the big companies, Nike, Lamborghini, Ferrari, whoever. I’m absolutely as passionate about this as I was about football."
