Sean Goss came through the ranks at Manchester United alongside superstars like Marcus Rashford and Scott McTominay, but says playing first-team football for Motherwell is what all of that was about.
German-born midfielder Goss, 26, was at Exeter City as a youth from 2004-12, and then moved to boyhood heroes Manchester United, under the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson.
Goss never played a first-team game, but came through with players like Andreas Pereira, Marcus Rashford and Scott McTominay. He played in the Youth Champions League and was 19th man for a Champions League clash at Wolfsburg in 2015.
While Rashford and McTominay have gone on to star for England and Scotland, respectively, Goss moved to Queen's Park Rangers and spent time on loan at Rangers and St Johnstone, before landing at Shrewsbury town for two years, and now Motherwell.
He says the whole experience at Old Trafford was brilliant, but ultimately it was about securing regular first-team football, which he is starting to get at Fir Park.
He said: "It was great. I was at Exeter City before that, so to go from a club like that to Man U, being a Man U fan as well, is what dreams are made of.
"It was obviously a massive change, going to a club that size, but I loved every minute of it.
"At our age group we had Andreas Pereira, Scott McTominay, Marcus Rashford came up and played with us quite a few times, and we've got other lads in and around all the other leagues as well.
"It helped, I don't think you can get a better grounding than being there as a young player.
"I've played in the Youth Champions' League, and I was 19th man for a Champions' League game at Man U when we played Wolfsburg as well. I didn't play in the first-team but I've had experience of being in and around it.
"You don't know how teams are going to be, or know their players too well, so it was always a massive challenge, but the games we played in were unbelievable.
"It was an unbelievable experience for me, the whole build-up to it, and how much is relying on it. They're massive games, and if you can win them you reap the rewards.
"I learned a lot. It's very different to normal league football. There's a lot more riding on it, and the games are completely different.
"I think, especially at the time, the way the club was run was perfect. It was Sir Alex's last year, and it was a bit different after he left, there have been problems ever since, but it was brilliant.
"But I'm here playing first-team football, it's massive and it's what you want to do.
"When you come through, the aim is always to end up playing first-team football week in, week out, so it was brilliant."
Having been out of the team since the 1-1 draw with Dundee on March 5, Goss came back into the side for the 4-2 win over St Mirren that gave them hope of a top-six finish, scored in that game, and has been in the side since.
He says the spirit shown in the side is better than results have suggested this year, but Motherwell are desperate to grab that European slot by beating Dundee United at Tannadice this afternoon.
He said: "My form has been all right. I can do better in places, but I came back in for the St Mirren game, I thought that was a really good team performance, probably up there with the Hearts game for us as being one of our best of the season - lots of goals and stuff like that.
"The Livi one, the way it finished was brilliant for us. Since the winter break I think it has shown that we've kept the character within the squad as well, I think with the form [we were on] you could easily have said at 2-0 down that was definitely us down and out.
"But I think we've showed a lot that afternoon, for us to get back in the game.
"It was a bit of a frustrating one at the weekend [3-1 home defeat to Rangers]. Them going down to 10 men was an opportunity for us, but we didn't take that."
Goss added: "We want European football for next season. It's there for us, we're in a position to be able to take it, and I think it's one of those where we're well aware of the form and how it has been.
"We have to look back on what we did before to get us there, because to be in this position with four games left and a chance of European football is one we'd definitely have taken if you had offered it before the start of the season.
"Dundee United are a point ahead of us, it's a massive game this weekend for whoever can get the three points, and take it game by game from there.
"Getting European football would be massive. It's not an opportunity that comes around very often, so for us to be in the position where we can go and take it, the lads will be all over it."
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