Former Manchester United youngster Kenji Gorre has admitted he was once left in tears after a brutal conversation with Sir Alex Ferguson.
Gorre joined United in 2002 from Manchester City and spent a decade in the youth set-up at the Red Devils. He was subject to transfer interest from Arsenal and Chelsea when he was 15, but decided to stay at the club.
However, in 2013, Gorre, who was 19 at the time, got told the crushing news that he was going to released by United at the end of the season. Gorre played with Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingard in the United academy, but failed to make the grade after a devastating chat with 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."
Following his release from United, Gorre joined Swansea and spent five years at the club despite making just one Premier League appearance. Gorre is now at Boavista in Portugal but detailed his next steps after leaving United.
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 there 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."
