Wrexham's Notts County rival shows why Barcelona once offered ex-Spurs star a 10-year deal
One of Notts County's main men put in an impressive performance against Wrexham, but it wasn't enough to prevent a painful setback in their quest for promotion.
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Notts County star John Bostock showed his class against Wrexham on Monday, but he was left feeling 'bittersweet' after falling short of the three points. Bending in sweetly-struck free-kicks at this stage of his career would not have surprised many when Bostock was coming through in the professional game, with Barcelona among his previous suitors.
The midfielder was thrown straight in at the deep end upon making his senior breakthrough at Crystal Palace, becoming their youngest-ever player at just 15 years old by coming on as a substitute against Watford in 2007, before playing from the start the following week.
Bostock soon drew interest from Tottenham, signing in 2008 and spending three years at White Hart Lane, although he only made four senior appearances. Capped at various England youth levels, Bostock has since put together a journeyman career with spells in Belgium, France and Turkey.
He returned to familiar shores in 2020 and spent a few months as a free agent after leaving Doncaster last year, before eventually signing an 18-month contract at County in December.
John Bostock has been with Notts County since last December (Image: PA Images)
The former Spurs ace has certainly rediscovered his mojo and he put in an accomplished midfield performance against promotion rivals Wrexham in their crunch National League showdown on Monday.
Controlling the tempo of the game from midfield, the highlight of Bostock's display was an expertly-taken free-kick that gave County the lead just before half time. Such moments of quality remind supporters why he was once offered a lengthy contract by none other than Barcelona when he was rising through the ranks at Palace.
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"When I was 14, Barcelona offered me a 10-year contract," he explained to the BBC in 2020. "Ronaldinho was my favourite player at the time so they sent me a signed poster from him. I've still got it at my house in London. It said: 'To John from Ronaldinho'.
"You name the club, I had interest from them. Barcelona, Real Madrid, Inter [Milan], Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool - the who's who of European football."
Painfully for Bostock, his exemplary strike turned out to be in vain as Wrexham came back to win the thrilling contest 3-2, likely consigning County to the play-offs in the process.
John Bostock's free-kick opened the scoring against Wrexham (Image: GETTY)
"It's a tough one to take if I'm honest with you," said the Englishman after the final whistle. "We work so hard to get results out of every game we play. Fair play to Wrexham but I'm very proud of the team and the way we performed. We'll press on and there's so much still to play for.
"In football you have to take the rough with the smooth. We'll take the rough today." On scoring his first goal since 2016, he added: "It's been a while. It's bittersweet. I'm happy with the way I hit the ball and that moment was incredible, but come the end of the game, it's not so sweet."
