I started at Tranmere and now play with Ballon d'Or winners Luka Modric and Karim Benzema

But for one kid, he forged his own path that led him to arguably the biggest club in the world - and it all started at Tranmere Rovers.

Advertisement

Marvin Park was turning plenty of heads even at the age of nine with the Manchester United, Liverpool and Everton all said to be interested.

But after three years at Prenton Park, the young Majorca-born starlet vanished in the middle of the night and was back in Spain.

And eight years later, Zinedine Zidane gave him a slap on the back as he made his Real Madrid debut in one of the most incredible journeys of recent footballers.

Advertisement

Tranmere coach at the time, Neil Garnett, explained how a whizkid in Wirral ended up playing alongside Luka Modric, Vinicius Jr and Sergio Ramos.

"He was a shy, young little lad who did not speak much English but as soon as you saw him play you could tell he was different to all the rest," he told the BBC in 2020.

"He had pace, technique, he could play with both feet and he was strong. Some players don't look fast but seem to glide past people and that was what he was like.

Advertisement

Advertisement

"He was a mouse in training but when he got on the pitch he was a lion. He was fearsome. The way he played football was unbelievable and the total opposite of his personality."

Garnett's brother Shaun, academy chief at the time, was the one who received the news that after three years with the club, Park left overnight and was back in Spain.

The young winger was born to a South Korean mother and Nigerian father, who both moved to England for work and Park was soon plying his trade for local club Sporting Ciutat de Palma before also turning out for Majorcan teams La Salle and AD Penya Arrabal.

Advertisement

After four years on the small Spanish island, Real Madrid were alerted to his progress and they beat RCD Mallorca to his signature while he also rejected Nigeria and South Korea to play for Spain Under-19s.

To Park, this must have seemed a fairy tale but the real grind began here in a youth side containing top talents, including Martin Odegaard, Sergio Reguilon and Achraf Hakimi.

It took him four years to gain the attention of the first-team, at this point Zidane in his second spell in charge of Los Blancos.

Advertisement

It was the legendary Frenchman who handed Park his debut for Madrid - the opening game of the 2020/21 La Liga season no less.

After 70 minutes with the scores locked at 0-0 against Real Sociedad, Zidane told the then-20-year-old to go and change the match.

Alas, Park could not break the deadlock after replacing Rodrygo Goes and he would go on to make three further league appearances, including a start against Getafe in a 3-1 win.

Largely, though, Park became a major part of Raul's Castilla side, including the following season after Zidane left and was replaced by Carlo Ancelotti, who was not as concerned with the youth side as his predecessor was.

Advertisement

But those four appearances at Real Madrid in that 2020/21 season would have been a dream come true for a player who ten years before was battling it out on the muddy fields of Merseyside.

For the vast majority of football players, many will never come that close to calling Ballon d'Or winners such as Modric and Karim Benzema and World Cup winners in Raphael Varane, teammates.

Advertisement

And he even recorded an assist in a 4-1 win over Granada, setting up Rodrygo to lash home to make it 2-0 at the time just before the break.

This season, though, having fallen further from Ancelotti's eye, a decision was made to loan the winger and he joined Las Palmas on loan in the summer.

The Segunda Division side have utilised the 22-year-old at right-wing and as a right-back - and even at left-back - while he has made 15 appearances in all competitions this season.

Whether he goes on to become a worldwide star with Real Madrid remains to be seen but one thing is for sure, they would have him back in a heartbeat at Tranmere.