Rotherham's Joe Mattock was tipped for the big time when he made his England under-21s debut under Stuart Pearce at the tender age of 17.
'I do try and keep it traditional by making a strong tackle so it was brilliant to learn things from Stuart,' recalls the Championship left-back who faces the might of Manchester City today.
'Joe Hart was my room mate and took me under his wing. I remember playing archery with him as part of a team-bonding thing.
'He'd always take the micky out of a tattoo I had on my back, the name "Mattock", which I had done when I was 15 and have regretted ever since!
'I was the second-youngest under-21 international after Theo Walcott and it was a tremendous learning curve for me.'
Mattock broke into the Leicester team at 16 and joined West Brom for £1.2million move in 2009, later playing for Sheffield Wednesdy and now Rotherham.
He remains a boyhood Foxes fan and is keen to come up against their 2016 title hero Riyad Mahrez this afternoon. 'I used to be a ballboy at Leicester so I'll have to thank him for helping us win the league,' he quips.
'This is a great opportunity for all the players at Rotherham to show we are good players.'
Mattock's only previous trip to The Etihad ended in a 7-0 League Cup hammering when his Sheffield Wednesday team had a man sent off.
'It was goalless at half-time as well but after that Frank Lampard really turned it on. I think it was his last season in English football but he still had it,' recalls Mattock, now 28.
'I was up against Jesus Navas who was quick but also made these great runs in behind you. I'm sure we'll give a better account of ourselves at Rotherham but it does show how good the City players can be.'
Mattock's tattoo embarrassment means he won't go completely overboard if he scores. 'You won't see the shirt coming off even if I hit a 30-yard screamer,' he admits.