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Laureano Bisan Etame-Mayer (or Lauren, as we know him in England) would go on to be a regular member of one of the great teams of the modern era.
But before playing his part in Arsenal's Invincibles season of 2003-04, the defender had led a life far removed from many Premier League players.
His family fled political persecution, food was at a premium and he had to ask a kit man for his big break.
Fifteen years on from one of football's great achievements, when Arsenal became the first team in the modern era to go through an English top-flight season unbeaten, the former Cameroon full-back sat down with me to discuss all those things and more.
Lauren was born in Kribi, Cameroon, after his parents fled Equatorial Guinea because of political persecution.
But much of his childhood was spent in Spain, after his family moved to Seville, a city where his father had contacts from his time working in the civil service in Equatorial Guinea.
In that country, the family had been among the elite, but things were very different in Spain.
Back home, his father's culture dictated that family size was an indicator of influence and prestige. His dad would father 24 children, six of them with Lauren's mother.
But reality struck after 12 members of his family (later 15) moved into two flats in Calle Bolonia in Montequinto, one of the least fashionable suburbs of Seville.
"It was a problem because although my father had a very good job and he had good wages, after the 15th of the month the problems would start," recalls Lauren, whose parents would go on to divorce.
"For my mum, it was very hard. She had everything and now she was in Spain and having to take care of all the kids. For her it was very, very tough.
"You'd get one tortilla and some rice and then cut it into pieces to feed everyone. It was difficult.
"What could I do? My mum was suffering, so from then on I was very concentrated about what I wanted to do. I wanted to be a footballer."
In November 1988, an 11-year-old Lauren and a friend took themselves to Sevilla's training grounds, where the Spain and Republic of Ireland sides were preparing for a World Cup qualifier.
He approached the Sevilla kit man and told him that he would like to train and play with the club.
It was a bold move but one rooted in the fact he had been playing at Montequinto as a striker and had scored 56 goals. Sevilla made inquiries and his career was launched.
"First of all I loved football and I wanted to be a footballer," Lauren says. "We would play football all day until 10pm at night in the summer. Football was the main focus and of course the other fact was that it helped my family.
"It was to help my mum especially. She went to Madrid to work and I thought, 'I have to do something to help this woman'.
"She came from a wealthy privileged position and now she was working cleaning houses, or the stations and the toilets, and mentally when you've come to here and you've been there, it's not easy.
"My father didn't want me to play football - he said I had to go to the university. But my mum said, 'If you believe you want to be a footballer, give 120%. If you want to do it, do it for real, otherwise you won't do it.'"
The lack of infrastructure and transport facilities in Seville at that time meant he faced a long walk to and from training after school. His desire to succeed led him to become an obsessive trainer, so much so that he brought himself to the edge of collapse.
"Yes, it was a bit tough," he remembers with typical understatement.
Arsenal signed Lauren in a £7.2m deal from Mallorca in May 2000
That work ethic brought Lauren spells with Levante and Real Mallorca after leaving Sevilla, but it was at Arsenal where his career really took off.
The move might never have happened. He was supposed to leave Mallorca for Roma, but that deal fell through after chief executive Mateu Alemany refused to release him. The following year, the call came from Arsenal.
He spoke with manager Arsene Wenger at vice-chairman David Dein's house in a meeting he describes as "something special".
"You could feel that they wanted to know you, not just the footballer but also the person," Lauren says.
Injury hampered his first season at the club but by the time Arsenal had won the Premier League and FA Cup double in 2001-02, Lauren was an integral part of their defence.
