Chris Mepham: ‘It’s surreal that Ryan Giggs wants to have a chat with you’

Four years ago the defender was a Sunday league player. Now he is thriving at Brentford, wanted in the Premier League and set for his Wales debut

As Chris Mepham tells his story in the same west London hotel where Ryan Giggs asked to meet him a couple of months ago, it is tempting to wonder how differently his career could have turned out had his mum not persuaded him to have one last crack at academy football, or if the centre-back for North Greenford reserves had managed to get away from work on time.

Mepham’s journey is about much more than fate, however, and in many ways highlights the huge challenges facing any youngster who sets out to become a professional footballer. Released by Chelsea at 14, rejected by Watford and turned away by Queens Park Rangers after being given some brutal feedback that shattered his confidence, Mepham drifted into Sunday league football before resurfacing at Brentford, where he has made such an impression this season that in January Bournemouth had a bid of £6.5m plus add-ons rejected for a 20-year-old with only 14 appearances to his name.

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