In May 2012, Will Keane seemed more likely than Harry Kane to reach a World Cup semi-final. A major knee injury cost Keane 16 months just as Kane broke through at Tottenham. "It's timing," Keane says. Now 33, Keane is among 45 players at the PFA's 12-week pre-season camp at Champneys Springs in Leicestershire, seeking a new club after leaving Preston.

Keane recounts how Marcus Rashford's explosive debut at Manchester United in 2016 — when Keane was injured — signaled the end of his Old Trafford dream. A second ACL tear at Hull kept him out 14 months. At Wigan, a spiritual psychologist helped him address self-doubt through visualisation and positive intentions. "If I'd focused on the mental part earlier, it might have been a different outcome," he reflects.

Keane admires Kane's certainty: "He's so sure of himself, because he's put the work in." Having won five senior Republic of Ireland caps, Keane remains hopeful of a new club and retains pride in his dual heritage: "I've got a foot in both camps."