It was meatballs before footballs for Manuel Agudo Duran 'Nolito' growing up on the run-down neighbourhood of Sanlucar in Cadiz in southern Spain.
'I worked in a butcher's shop when I was 15, selling the pre-cooked meats and cleaning up. Then in the evenings I would train with my team,' he says of the five-hour morning shifts that meant that he could take €30 home at the end of every week to help pay the bills.
The 'too much too soon' culture that has led some Premier League clubs to cap salaries for 16-year-olds to £40,000, is a world away from Nolito's formative years.