Wes Morgan has come a long way since I first met him. I've known the Leicester City defender since we were kids growing up in Nottingham. He's from an area called The Meadows and I'm from Clifton, a few miles down the road. We're about the same age, with lots of mutual friends, and we'd come up against each other in our local teams.



Our career paths haven't converged too much since then. Whereas I was playing in the Premier League by the time I was 18, Wes had to wait until he was 30 before making his top flight debut. Now he's captaining the side sitting at the top of the league - and he's a big reason why they are there.

Wes has been one of the country's outstanding centre-backs this season, but when I first came across him he was a central midfielder. He always had good ability, but he also had "distractions" in his life, so to speak. The Meadows is a tough area with a strong gang culture. I watched a lot of my own friends from similar backgrounds have promising careers fade away because of that environment.

That probably held Wes back initially. For example, when I was in the youth set-up at Forest, he was still playing Sunday league. I was training at the Forest academy twice a week from the age of seven, while Wes's education was playing for a team called Clumber, which was run by my mate's dad.



Then one day at Forest - I was 17 and just breaking into the first team at the time - he just walked into the changing room. I was like, "What are you doing here?", a bit surprised to see him.



View photos Wes Morgan playing for Nottingham Forest against Coventry City in the Championship in 2011. (Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images) More

He was at the club for a trial. The manager Paul Hart liked him, but thought he was overweight. That was a big test for Wes. I remember after training I'd go down to see which of the YTS lads were knocking about, because they were my mates even though I was training with the first team, and I'd find Wes sitting there on his own in the corner.



"They've all left. I've got to stay here and do a run," he told me. Hart was basically making him do extra work every day after training. I'd watch him running around the City Ground pitch on his own as part of a fat-burner programme they had him on.

It seemed harsh to me, and some players would have sulked over it, but Wes stuck it out. Thankfully, and crucially, I think the group that surrounded Wes off the pitch actually wanted him to make it. A lot of "friends" can hold your back in those situations, but when he was at Forest they didn't. Maybe that was because Jermaine Pennant, who was also from The Meadows, had already got a move to Arsenal from Notts County. In a way Pennant was flying the flag for the area and showing what was possible.

So despite getting picked up very late by Forest, Wes eventually broke into the first team and in the next decade he established himself as a very good Championship player. That education at Clumber, when he was playing men's football as a 13 or 14-year-old, probably helped him.



But what he has achieved over the past 12 months has been remarkable.

Last season, when he was captain of a Foxes side that looked doomed to relegation, there were a few question marks over his ability to perform at the highest level. But I think those tough beginnings have given him the strength to not be affected by criticism and get on with it.

I always knew he was a good player but, I can't lie, he has massively surprised me with the level he has reached. He's always had strength and ability on the ball, so he's never struggled with the physical or technical side of the game, but defensively his positional play has improved. Some defenders get better as they get older, and he's one of those.

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