Former footballer turned Gogglebox star opens up on Arsenal transfer interest

Nowadays, Tristan Plummer is a star of hit Channel 4 show Gogglebox.

But once upon a time, he was a talented footballer who attracted serious interest from Premier League giants and represented England at youth level.

Back in 2006, Plummer was getting plenty of plaudits after breaking through Bristol City's youth academy.

He was receiving admiring glances from a clutch of top flight clubs, most notably Arsenal and Chelsea.

In one FA Youth Cup game, at the age of just 15 and playing against opposition three years his senior, Plummer recalls how the club hid him away from Chelsea scouts after the match because he had performed that well and they were fearful of him being possibly poached.

Picking up the story, the 32-year-old told Bristol Live : "I made my FA Youth Cup debut, aged 14 or 15, and after they didn't make me go out straight after the game because there were a few Chelsea scouts watching the game.

"I ended up doing well in that game and the scouts started coming along and a few England scouts were there too."

Sure enough Arsenal eventually came in and enquired about a player who still hadn't made his senior debut.

Ahead of Plummer's 17th birthday at the beginning of 2007, the club had laid out plans to sign him to his first professional contract in front of the supporters - but interest from the Gunners and Everton and understandably gave him second thoughts about what to do next.

He said: "As a 17-year-old growing up from where I was from and having to make those decisions, it was pretty difficult. I could have gone to two Premier League teams, Everton and Arsenal were interested in me.

"One of the old Everton coaches, Tony Fawthrop was Bristol City's academy director so he knew about me.

"I remember being in my house and someone was running across with a newspaper and they were like 'you're in the newspaper!' I was like what? 'Plummer wanted by Arsenal' and that - I was like wow.

"The club said Arsenal were talking about you but City shut that down straight away. The selling price was ridiculous saying they wanted a million or two million for me at the age of 17 but all they only would have had to pay was the compensation because I hadn't signed the contract.

"That scared me a bit because I thought if I see out my scholarship and then I can't get it agreed, then I don't have a club."

Arsenal baulked at the asking price put on Plummer by his club and instead went on to sign another teenager - Southampton's Theo Walcott.

The summer of 2007 saw Plummer called up to the England squad for the under-17 European Championships.

He was on the substitutes bench in the final as the Three Lions lost to De Gea's Spain thanks to Barcelona wonderkid Bojan's strike.

Despite a clutch of loan moves and the odd appearance on Bristol City's bench, Plummer would never make a senior appearance for the Robins.

He was released in 2010 and after a spell playing in Portugal he returned to the non-league circuit in England.

Now one of the regulars on Gogglebox, alongside his brothers Tremaine and Twaine, he reflected on his football experiences: "I don't regret it because I have two beautiful kids now. Maybe if I moved away, I wouldn't have had them and now I'm doing other things that I enjoy doing.

"Maybe I could have been in a better position financially but at the end of the day my happiness is more important, I'm happy and I came to terms with that ages ago. I hold no grudge or resentment towards the manager or club.

"Playing for the academy was the best time of my life. The thing I loved most with City in general, I remember waking up and just having a bus card, life wasn't... I was getting paid £45 a week, having a bus card, I could go anywhere."