Jonathan Panzo has been surrounded by superstars his whole life so it is no wonder that he has grown to become one of the most exciting young defenders in English football.
The Monaco youngster made a surprise decision to exit the Chelsea youth set up and go his own way and he has since had a breakthrough season in the Belgian First Division on loan at Cercle Brugge.
His stock in England is high too, having broken into the England Under-21s set up. Along with his team-mates, Panzo got to the final of the UEFA Under-17 European Championship in 2017 and then went one step further by winning the FIFA Under-17 World Cup months later.
Having lined up with Jadon Sancho, Phil Foden and Ryan Sessegnon for England, Panzo also earned an unprecedented quadruple with Jody Morris' U18 side at Chelsea, counting Callum Hudson-Odoi, Reece James and Billy Gilmour as colleagues.
When he left Chelsea - with Maurizio Sarri having just joined after Antonio Conte's fractious departure - Panzo understood that his chances looked slim in the first team, even as one of England's most talented youngsters.
But he is grateful for the experiences in France and Belgium, which are honing him into a better player, with bigger ambitions to be fulfilled in the future.
"At the time, Chelsea weren't playing as much youth as I would have wanted to," Panzo told Goal. "I thought it would be better to experience something new and push myself in a new environment. Michael Emenalo [Chelsea's former technical director] went to Monaco, he was a part of it.
"It just helped that he was there as a familiar face to make the journey across smoother. It was difficult, I was still young ,16-17, so it was outside my comfort zone. I did speak some French because of my mother so that did help me a bit as well.
"Chelsea weren't giving many chances at the time and I thought Monaco might be a better chance for me to get my talent out more. It was crazy to work with a legend like Thierry Henry. I thought he was a good coach but unfortunately, things didn't pan out well for him.
"That's just how football goes. For me, he was good and I am grateful he gave me my debut. In the same dressing room as [Radamel] Falcao and I remember I always used to have him on FIFA. Cesc Fabregas arrived; he advises a lot of the younger players.
"He pushes us and keeps us working hard. He kept us humble and pushing, which was good. He is a nice guy off the pitch even after all he achieved. He is a great idol to have around."
Monaco's disarray in recent seasons led to an ahead-of-schedule debut but it has since restricted chances for youth after last season's shock relegation battle left the club on the brink of Ligue 2.
A move on loan to Cercle Brugge has proved fruitful for Panzo, a left-footed centre-back with great athleticism. He has since rushed back to London to be with his family amid the coronavirus outbreak but he feels that the loan spell has helped him progress.
"I was playing regularly, which is the main thing at a young age," he added. "I got a lot of minutes under my belt. The main thing was we stayed up in the league and we weren't getting the wins we deserved. But we managed to stay up in the league.
"The coronavirus cancelled the league but we were going to stay up anyway. It was an exciting but difficult period for me which added to my experience. It was crazy. From winning every week, it was like 'wow, what's going to happen or maybe we could lose'.
"It was difficult because you have that pressure on you in a relegation battle. For both the position I play and my age, it was good to get lots of minutes under my belt because not many defenders in Europe around my age get the minutes they deserve.
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"Every game counts for me that I get to play in whether it is a cup game. I just want every experience I can."
The first people that inspired Panzo to be a success were his cousins, who ignited his interest in a sport which he initially wasn't interested in. Then, it was his coaches and John Terry from within the Chelsea academy camp. But he credits the former Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo as his inspiration from afar.
"My cousin kept pushing me to play because we had this chemistry when we were in the same team. I wasn't even interested in football. One day, I went to go watch his game and they needed an extra player. I was the only one who could play but I had to rush home for boots and shin pads.
"We won the game 1-0 and I was the one that scored. I was a striker and I got like 40 goals in 20 games in my first season when Chelsea's scout Fiona spotted me.
"She is now my godmother! I was competing with Sammy Ompreon, who is now at Sheffield United, about how many goals we would score. I became a defender when I hit U11.
"My brother was a Manchester United fan so one of my main idols from when I was younger and still now is Cristiano Ronaldo. I liked him at United as he was one of the best players. Now I am in the game, I like his mentality as well, the way he looks after himself, the things he does to keep on improving on what he's achieved.
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"But now, I am a Chelsea fan! The main senior player that a lot of defenders looked up to was John Terry. He came over to the academy quite a lot. It was just great to see someone like him up close after what he achieved.
"He was a great defender, passer and he had that hunger. He had it all. He was one of the main people to look up to. I met him a few times and he took one of our sessions at U16. He came back from injury at one point and he was training one of our sessions.
"He is a great person, not just a great player. We were star struck. You looked over to your mate and were whispering, 'Wow that's John Terry!', but you didn't want him to notice it. Then you get used to seeing him after a while.
"That was around the U18 level; it was crazy, I think the last generation won three trophies and then we won four. So the last generation was a big motivation for us and the coaches like Jody Morris played a big part as well.
"He played a big part in training and motivating us. I would say he was quite a hard coach but he kept us going and motivated. That's how we won all the trophies."
Having seen the likes of Sancho and Hudson-Odoi excel from his youth teams, Panzo is every bit as ambitious as his peers. He has so far ignored approaches from Ivory Coast to switch allegiance from England as he continues to get minutes with the Under-21s.
He is dreaming big, with a return to the Premier League and an England debut among his ambitions after making a success of his Monaco career.
"England is mainly in my thoughts," he added. "My mum said there have been a few approaches from Ivory Coast but my main thoughts are to one day get to the senior set up. My dreams now are to carry on playing in a top-five league and hopefully come back to the Premier League.
"I want to play at the top level of the Premier League, Champions League and to play for my national team."
