Miguel Almiron had a decision to make. After two years of being told he was too small to play football, too slight to compete against boys his own age, he thought about the job waiting for him collecting trolleys at the local supermarket.

It was tough. He was missing a lot of school, getting up at 5am every morning to make the three-hour round trip on a bus to training and back home again before attending classes in the afternoon. There would come a point where he had to earn his keep at his family home in Paraguay’s capital city Asuncion.

Almiron had talent, skill and technique. He was a clever footballer, but nobody was able to look beyond the slender, frail frame. For two years all he did was train and watch others play in matches. And there was a job for him, working with his mother, at the supermarket if he wanted it.

“When you are small, you have to play with your brain,” says Almiron through an interpreter in his first sit-down interview in England.

“I was always quick, I used my speed and my technique. I was never going to be as strong as some, it did not matter. I have always been slim, it is my natural build. My combination of speed and alertness, it helps me avoid heavy tackles. The physical side of the game, it never worried me.