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What would you do if you first big break in football came with your fierce rivals?
That's exactly what happened to Blackburn's Sondre Tronstad when he was offered a trial with Manchester United at the age of 14.
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A die-hard Liverpool fan from a family of Reds, the Norwegian international grew up with pictures of Anfield legends on his wall so knew exactly how excited young football fans in Lancashire would have been when he paid them a visit this week.
Along with Harry Leonard, the 29-year-old Blackburn star stopped by a local school to meet some young football fans as part of Rovers' continued work in the community.
Speaking to talkSPORT.com during the EFL's Week Of Action, the Blackburn star said: "We’ve been visiting communities and today I’ve been in a school where we got to talk to the kids who had a lot of questions of course.
“It’s just nice to interact with the kids. Blackburn Rovers are doing a great job in the community which is really important to support them.
“It’s so nice because they’re really excited and have big smiles on their faces – I just remember when I was a kid, footballers were my heroes and came to my school as well and so I know how much it means.
“My biggest hero was Steven Gerrard of course, I’m a big Liverpool fan so he was my biggest idol but I also had the team Start who were the nearby professional team in Norway and they also had a lot of players who were my heroes and I got to meet them as well so that was huge for me."
As an avid Liverpool fan, Tronstad's first big break came from an unlikely source after he was invited for a trial with fierce rivals Man United.
“It was a bit weird," he explained.
"It was me and two other players from Norway – there was a camp for the talent in Norway and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was the coach there and the three of us got selected from that camp to go and train with the academy of Man United.
“I was a Liverpool fan and my family were big Liverpool fans so they were a bit like ‘you shouldn’t really do this’ but of course it was a big opportunity so I couldn’t say no.
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“I remember we stayed in Joshua King’s house and then I remember Danny Welbeck was there – he came over for dinner at the house and it was Wes Brown’s brother, I think it was.
“So there was a few players and it was good to be there.
“I went there one more time so I went there two times and the year after I actually went for a trial with Liverpool as well.”
Having spent much of his early career in Norway with Start and Haugesund, Tronstad moved to the Netherlands with Eredivisie side Vitesse Arnhem.
The midfielder spent three and a half years in the Eredivisie and won his first senior cap for Norway and helped Vitesse to finish as runners up in the KNVB Cup.
In the summer of 2023, he joined Blackburn Rovers on a free transfer where he continues to be a key player in their hopes of pushing for promotion to the Premier League.
