Cameron Brannagan was once tipped to make the big breakthrough at Liverpool.
Now thriving in League One with Oxford and chasing promotion to the Championship, the Manchester-born midfielder claims he has no regrets over his Liverpool exit.
“It's been good at Oxford. I'm back enjoying my football; which I needed. It's been the best move I've made because I needed to play and show what I could do,” he told the ECHO during an exclusive interview.
“It was and it wasn't a difficult decision. It was a bit different because I had been at the club for so long, but it was a move that I had to make for myself. I wasn't playing regular football and I was playing bit-part under-23s. You get to a stage where you've got to go and play wherever you want. I wanted to go and prove what I'm worth, what I'm about, and Oxford gave me that chance.
He continued: “It's completely different to under-23s football. I've been at Oxford for two years and I've learned so much. The difference is crazy. You grow up as a person and a player, you don't realise until you do it. It's one of the best things I did because I'm a completely different person, never mind player, to what I was at Liverpool. There is a lot more responsibility and you're playing for three points every Saturday—and it means the world to get that.”
The 23-year-old declined this offer, and when told by Liverpool that he would then be returning to Premier League 2 action as a result, Brannagan realised he was at a career crossroads.
“It was a bit of a weird one when I left because there was a loan that came up at one stage,” he explained.
“Liverpool asked me to go to Swindon, but I didn't really want to go. I was told if I didn't go to Swindon, I'd be going back to the under-23s. I decided not to go because I didn't want to go there, so I moved back to the under-23s. That is when things switched in my head and I realised that I didn't want to be messing around and getting treated like that, because I believe I'm good enough to play at the top level.
“The best thing for me was to pack my bags and go.
“I've benefited massively from it: growing up as a person, living by myself - everything has helped me.”
“I totally understand it, especially now,” said Brannagan on those leaving in search of a new challenge.
“If I could go back and go into the Academy, I would say that one of the best things you can do is to go and play football.
“You need to play,” he stressed.
“I've got over 100 appearances at Oxford now, and to get that experience under your belt, you just learn so much. The self-belief and confidence I have now got is crazy, and hopefully I can keep improving and getting better.
“They say that everything happens for a reason, and I personally believe that moving to Oxford has rekindled my career.”
“It's good. He's living with me now, and we're good for each other. He's a top kid, it helps me and it's great to have him here,” said Brannagan on being joined by Woodburn.
“I still keep in contact with some of my old teammates at Liverpool, I made friends for life there. I'll always have friends there, but it was just one of those things that I needed to do. I had to prove that I was good enough to play at the highest level.”
He added: “The manager, Karl Robinson, wants to play good football, and it's good for me. I've always been brought up to play that way. But the biggest thing for me now is, because I've been playing League One football for quite a while, I have got both sides to my game: I can do the ugly side to the game too. I will fight and do everything I can to win.
“I think we've got a lot of players in the team that are very good. As a unit, we're looking very strong at the minute. We just need to keep on it, keep our standards high and the self-belief is through the roof. I believe I can come up against anyone in the league and it doesn't bother me, I don't care who they are or what they're like.”