Prerak Pradhan

'I will never forget where I was when I was given the opportunity to come here five years ago. I was standing in the closet in our bedroom in Lisbon. My agent had rang me up around 10 o’clock at night, and my daughter was only three years old at the time, so that was bedtime for us. I went into the little closet to be quiet. I always told my agent, during my whole career, “I never want to hear about any transfer until it’s 100% real. I don’t want to be distracted unless there is an offer.” So I knew if he was calling me at that hour, something was going on. He said, “Are you ready to hear the news?” I said, “About what?” “About going.” “Going where? Spurs?” “United.” “Are you joking?” “No, no. I’m serious. United. It’s done. It’s just on you now. What do you want to do?” I didn’t even reply. I started fighting back tears. But you know the feeling when you are trying to hold it in, so the other person doesn’t realise you’re crying, and you can’t even speak? He said, “Bruno? Bruno? Hello?” At that moment, my wife, Ana, comes looking for me in the bedroom. “Bruno??? Bruno???” She opens the door. “What’s going on? Why are you in the closet?” I said, “It’s Miguel. He just called. He’s saying United want me.” She said, “Wait ... Are you crying?” I told her, “I don’t know! I think it’s happiness!” You need to understand a bit about my situation. The previous summer, there were some rumors about Premier League clubs being interested in me, but the only thing that was concrete was Tottenham. It feels weird to me now, but at the time, I was excited. One of my life goals was to play in the Premier League. I tried to block out all the noise, but in the age we are living in, with social media and phones and text, of course my friends let me know about the rumours. As a kid from Portugal, you can’t help but dream a bit about playing at the big grounds in England. In the end, the clubs couldn’t reach an agreement, and the deal fell apart. It was a complicated emotion, but I was really happy at Sporting. I felt the love of the fans, and it was a fantastic place for me. But it was not my destiny.' ✨✍️ @B_Fernandes8