Aston Villa's new £12million striker Scott Hogan came close to quitting the game as he struggled to make ends meet while playing non-League football, Sportsmail can reveal.
Hogan, who had been linked with a move to West Ham after scoring 21 goals in just 34 games for Brentford, secured a big money move to Villa Park on transfer deadline day.
But his brother, Liam Hogan, who played non-League football alongside Scott from 2010-11, told Sportsmail that the new Villa man nearly walked away from the game during his days as a semi-professional.
'He'd been through a few clubs where it wasn't clicking,' said Liam, a centre-back at Gateshead in the National League.