TATT’S HOW I ROLL ...AFTER UNITED DUMPED ME AT 14
DWIGHT McNEIL’S tattooed right arm provides a permanent reminder of how he overcame the biggest setback of his life.
The winger was devastated when he was released by Manchester United as a 14-yearold but will line up against them at Goodison Park as a key part of Frank Lampard’s Everton rebuild and proof that early rejection can be the making of a player.
If McNeil needs any extra motivation for the fixture he looks forward to the most, he only needs to glance at the text inked on his arm that quotes the late American rapper Juice WRLD.
“The tattoo on my left arm is about my family and my inheritance growing up, and then on my right arm are my heroes,” he said. “There’s Spiderman and Juice WRLD who used to be a rapper but died a few years ago.
“He’s represented by the number 999, and the text just represents taking whatever bad situation you’re in or whatever struggle you’re going through, and turning it into something positive to push yourself forward.
“I relate it to my life and also to football. I use it a lot as a reminder and inspiration. I keep trying to find ways to push forward and to become better within myself.”
McNeil, 22, has certainly stayed true to that after being told by his youth coaches at United – who he had been with since the age of five – that he was not going to make the grade with them.
“It was a huge setback, particularly as I was a United fan. My parents told me in
the car after training one evening. For the first two weeks it was hard for me to take.”
But the rejection turned out to be the making of McNeil, whose dad Matt, a former Macclesfield and Stockport player, has been a huge influence on his career.
Burnley offered him a trial and fuelled by the determination to prove United wrong he flourished at Turf Moor. He made his Clarets debut at 18, clocked up 147 first team appearances and won 10 England Under-21 caps before his £20million move to Everton in the summer.
“The feeling was to try and prove wrong the people that made the decision and released me at United – and I think I have managed to do that,” he added. “Getting released was hard to take at 14 but I look back on it now and don’t have any regrets.”
McNeil will go into tonight’s game full of confidence after ending an 18-month goal drought in the win at Southampton last weekend that continued Everton’s upward trajectory. The Toffees’ victory stretched their unbeaten run to seven games all told, and lifted them to 11th in the table ahead of this weekend’s results.
“There was a lot of outside noise about not scoring, so it helps the confidence massively,” he said.
“It is something to build on – about knowing where to be, timing runs to impact the game – then I can get more goals and assists. It is one of the reasons I came here.”