Mikel Merino has one hell of a story to tell years from now and he isn’t alone. Most footballers will have a tale of when they were asked to play out of position. Sometimes, it works beautifully and you score twice as a substitute away to Leicester. Other times it’s ugly, and so here is my story.
I was a striker, you know that. But in October 1992, I was a lanky 19-year-old being asked to fill in as a centre back as Norwich were hamstrung by injuries to our defence. We travelled to Blackburn for a clash between first and second in the Premier League.