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Two years ago Curtis Anderson helped England win the Under-17 World Cup in front of more than 66,000 fans.

Eight months after cutting his Manchester City contract short to join US team Charlotte Independence and seven weeks after becoming a free agent, the 19-year-old can't hide his frustration at how things have gone recently.

"I said when I went there that it was proper ballsy," Anderson chuckled as he recalled the decision to head for North Carolina, "which it is - but now I don't know whether that was me being young and stupid."

If the teenager can laugh about his situation, it has left him conflicted as he tries to unpack what has happened without having the security of knowing what comes next.

City paid £15,000 to sign Anderson as an 11-year-old and it was through the club that he built the platform to play in that incredible World Cup win, but after seven years the partnership had run its course. The club have not been shy about buying young talent whenever they see it and having four goalkeepers in the same academy side meant opportunities were limited.

"I always want to be doing more than everyone else: train more, do more gym, play more games than anyone else," the young keeper said.

"I didn't feel like I was doing that at City and it really frustrated me because there were four keepers and we were rotating so I was playing a game a month or even less. I felt like because I wasn't getting more than everyone else I needed to be doing more and standing out.

"Also, I wasn't playing that well. It was partly my fault because I wasn't playing as good as I should have been but it didn't help that I'd play a game and then not play again for four weeks - I wasn't getting any momentum or form. It frustrated me.

"The thing is I never want to not have good memories of City because it was amazing. It was the best part of my life for seven years, I was there for a long time and obviously they got me everything I got. It was just a bit disappointing that it didn't end very well."

Anderson had trials with Bournemouth, Derby and Blackburn after being told his City contract would not be renewed. He really enjoyed Blackburn and they wanted to take him on loan in the January transfer window before a permanent summer move... only for a deal to break down on deadline day for reasons that neither club could tell him.

The Barrow-born stopper was not interested in wasting more time on the bench at the Etihad Campus and, with few options in Europe, jumped at the chance to head over to USL Championship side Charlotte Independence with coach Jim McGuinness.

It may have been a club with little history or support, far away from his family in a place without much going on, but the youngster reasoned that if he started well enough a summer move could still be on the cards; if not then he would have a season of games under his belt that few players his age would be able to match for the January window.

Things started promisingly enough - Anderson got into Team of the Week for a star performance against the best team in the league - but McGuinness was sacked after just one win in 14 games and the new manager told him from the first day he would not be picked. After eight weeks of trying and failing to change the coach's mind, Anderson headed home to reflect on what had gone wrong.

"Right now, because I'm in the situation I'm in now I'm thinking I shouldn't have done that, it was stupid. But if for example Jim McGuinness didn't get sacked I'd probably still be there now and have played 25-30 games going into the play-offs and I'd be thinking it had been great and I'd come back in January and sign for a decent side.

"But it's not gone that way, it's gone the complete opposite.

"I've now not been paid for two months because I've not got a team. The money side of it is fine but even though I'm not standing still I'm not progressing how I want to at the minute and I'm now thinking if I'd have stayed at City until the end of the season I'd have got even more money because I'd have seen my contract out and then signed 100 per cent for a team in July and be signed to a team now.

"I don't regret it because I know I wasn't happy in the end at City so I'd have had five months of training there every day knowing nothing is happening so when I saw the opportunity to play I didn't think about the what ifs.

"I guess that's how I am as a person and I'll always be like that. I jump into everything headfirst."

If impatience has played its part in Anderson finding himself without a club, that relentless drive to improve has also seen him already achieve some things in the game many never will and he is far from the only member of the Under-17 World Cup winners to have taken some bold career decisions.

Jadon Sancho had already left City for Dortmund by the time the tournament took place and the enthusiastic and large crowds in India - roads were closed and police escorts given to the team for travel, while locals queued up at training sessions for autographs - helped give the feel of a first-team competition. A group of youngsters that had managed such a rare achievement were fuelled with a confidence not found in generations before them.

"I spoke to [Jadon] when we were at the camp and he said it was so much better because it was the first team and it felt real - but at the time he wasn't playing. When I spoke to him then, he was just a squad player whereas when he was at City he wasn't like none of us were. He was the first one to see the difference is and how different it is even if you're not playing just being part of it is huge. You've got to believe in yourself as well though.

"A lot of us know that to break through with the team you're at without going on loan or leaving first it's going to be pretty hard in the Premier League. Everyone has their different ways of getting there. Different people have different ways but it helps that we were all just very good. That team was very good. It's a bit of everything."

(Image: Alexandre Simoes/Borussia Dortmund via Getty Images)

Fuelled by belief in his own ability, Anderson is coming to terms with the fact that his situation isn't so far off what he wanted when he decided to leave City.

In addition to sorting out his own fitness regime with ex-City fitness coach Shane Murphy, he has been enjoying training with Blackburn for the last seven weeks - the Championship club that nearly signed him last season.

Charlotte did prove valuable in reinforcing the satisfaction at being treated as a first-team player, as well as being a useful reminder of how things can happen in football that you can't do anything about. All of this, plus the game time, will be in mind when Anderson and his team choose the next challenge.

"Of course it's stressful," he said. "I have days where I'm like 'Oh my God, what am I doing? I've gone from winning the World Cup two years ago to today training for no money with no club, no-one wants me.' You get those thoughts now and again but you just have to realise come on, what are you going to get in October.

"I'm in the best physical position right now I've ever been. I've really really made sure I'm doing everything. I eat better than I ever have before, I go to the gym way more than I did but more sensibly. That's why I'm not really too stressed about what's going on at the minute because I've put my mind to something else. I've got different goals. My goal is to be physically perfect for January, which I'm doing."

In time, emotions around his City exit and Charlotte stint may change or fade but what won't go anytime soon is the desire to be better and keep pushing forward.

The goal remains to try and be as good at 23 or 24 as the likes of Ederson were at that age, and the key to that is playing matches. Having left two clubs that could not provide that, Anderson wants to find the right club to flourish at and make his next mark on the game.

"It sometimes frustrates me when I'll tell someone I'm close to that I'm frustrated and they say I've won a World Cup. I'm like 'yeah, but that's not enough'. I think I'll never be satisfied - which is probably something that is a good thing and a bad thing - some people might be happy they've won a World Cup, played in front of 66,000 people, or played for City for seven years but to me that's gone now.

"What's next? I need more and I've always wanted more."