Third kid alongside Mason Mount and Christian Pulisic in Chelsea Twitter throwback picture revealed

When Chelsea's official Twitter account posted a throwback snap of three academy kids the other day, two were instantly recognisable.

The facial features of Christian Pulisic haven't altered a great deal in the decade since the picture was taken and next to him was a young, floppy-haired Mason Mount with a cheeky grin on his face.

The lad on the right, ginger-haired with a bottle of Lucozade bottle tucked under his arm, wasn't identified by Chelsea's tweet and led some of the account's 14.7million followers to ask who he was.

It turns out he is Tom Carlton. And while Mount and Pulisic are now high-profile players in Chelsea's first team and household names around the world, Carlton is a part-time player for Kent-based Herne Bay, of the Isthmian League South East Division - the eighth level of English football.

He recalled to The Athletic that American Pulisic, then 11, was on a five-day trial at Chelsea's Cobham base during the summer of 2010, playing with the club's under-12 side.

'You can see he's got a 'T' on his kit, which means he was a trialist,' Carlton said.

'I never knew Pulisic was there at that age until I saw the picture. When you're that age, we're all the same really - anyone could make it.

'When you grow up and see who's made it and who hasn't, it's pretty surreal. That picture is crazy.'

While midfielder Mount came through Chelsea's academy team-by-team to become an established member of Frank Lampard's team during a breakthrough 2019-20 season, Pulisic's return to the club was more convoluted.

After playing for academy teams in the United States, he signed for Borussia Dortmund as a 16-year-old in February 2015 and wasted little time breaking into their first team.

Chelsea bought him for January 2019 for £58million, linking up with his new club last summer and has enjoyed a fine campaign with 11 goals and 10 assists.

Carlton's path in the game was rather different. Joining Chelsea aged six, he spent eight years with the club and regularly played alongside Mount and Declan Rice in the same midfield at various youth tournaments.

'We were all quite close as kids: Mason and Dec and I, and a few others. We went to training three times a week and that's all we knew,' he told The Athletic.

But aged 14, Carlton received the crushing blow that Chelsea were releasing him - on the same day they also released Rice, now at West Ham.

'It was hard to take. You don't really get a reason,' he said.

Carlton moved on to West Ham's academy, but was released a second time at the age of 16, moving on to Colchester United and then Herne Bay in the summer of 2017.

He combined playing in the non-league divisions with his job fitting windows and admits it is difficult to watch the other two boys in the photo, Mount and Pulisic, performing at football's top level.

'People don't understand that, but I've been with them and it could have been me,' he said.