United dropped me and told me I could fetch £100 million.

People used to think that Callum Gribbin would be the next big thing at Manchester United, but now he plays for FC United of Manchester in the seventh level of English football.

Even though the club’s school is known for always turning out talented players, players don’t make it to the first team as often as they used to. Even though Gribbin’s previous youth team coaches were very complimentary, his path was very different from that of players like Marcus Rashford.

In 2019, he was only 20 years old when he learned from Nicky Butt, who used to run the school, that his hopes of making it with the Red Devils were falling apart. There was no offer of extension.

The last words Butt said were shared with The Athletic by Gribbin: “Prove us wrong.” Either you work at McDonald’s or we pay £100 million to get you back.

As a child, Gribbin could see Old Trafford from his window, and he loved football just like a lot of other kids do. According to the Mirror, his later experiences have changed how he feels about football because they have shown him how easy it is to lose that pure love for the game when things get tough.

He said, “I definitely see football differently now” when he thought back on his football path. I loved it when I was a kid. Then you get older and realize it’s cruel, not what you thought it would be like as a child. I get why so many people lose interest in it. I have never been through that; I don’t think I’ve ever lost love with something. In spite of that, you sometimes dislike it because there are cruel parts to the game.

In football, Gribbin’s story is a common one: a young player with a lot of skill who maybe didn’t fully understand it. Afterward, he admitted, “I need to own up and say that I wasn’t the best with myself when I was younger.” Sometimes I really let myself down. I was tough near the end of my time at United. I didn’t feel like I had a chance on the first team, which made me sad. Beyond sports, I started hurting myself and doing bad things.

“I was kids, and I think I relied on my talent because I was so good at it.” Over the years, I used it wrongly. I always trusted my skills to get me through things. So I think I did need to learn the lesson of being let go. Many years have passed since I was a child. I see it very differently now than I did at the time when I look back.

A terrible injury happened to Gribbin four years after he left the Red Devils and started playing in a non-league game. He hurt his knee ligaments in a game against Warrington Town in January 2023, which could hurt his future.

With their means, a top-level club would have taken care of the surgery and recovery, but part-time clubs have a different story to tell. To pay for the surgery that would have saved his career, he had to get money from the PFA.

After a lot of stress and paperwork, the PFA decided to pay half of the £7,500 cost of the surgery. Using the Internet, his minor league team raised the other half.

“If you’re at a top club and you’ve done your knee, you’re looked after in-house,” said he. “You only need to worry about getting fit again. The club will take care of everything else.” The bottom, on the other hand, isn’t like that at all.

When Gribbin thought back on his time at United, he thought that young players had chances under Louis van Gaal. But his replacement, Jose Mourinho, didn’t seem like the same person, which made the young hopeful nervous.

“I used to think, ‘He’s not busy, is he?'” He doesn’t even bother to learn my name. Now that I think about it, I know I shouldn’t have been mad about it. But it bothered me that he wouldn’t even watch me train at the time.

“If I did say something to someone, he’d look at me and say, ‘You can’t be joking, you’re 18 years old and training with the first team.'” In my mind, I told myself, “No, I want to get a chance here.” There were some problems with Mourinho and some of the staff. “Little things that add up.”