Once a starlet at Chelsea, Josh McEachran is now trying to work his way back into the Premier League with another West London club, Brentford.
The 22-year-old is yet to play for the Bees, though, after suffering a broken foot in one of his early training sessions with the club in the summer.
He is nearing a return to full fitness and yesterday took a break from his recovery to help out at the London Poppy Day with teammate Maxime Colin.
Thanks to Sky Bet, we caught up with playmaker McEachran at the event, which raises money for The Royal British Legion.
You've been helping out at the London Poppy Day bike event in Leadenhall Market. How has it been?
"Yeah it's been good to come down and help judge the bike race and see the men and women of the service. It's good to show your face and get out of the training ground to do something different.
"It's the first time I've been to this day and I don't know too much about The Royal British Legion, so it's been interesting."
You're a Brentford player now, but you haven't played for them yet after the injury you picked up in pre-season. How's the recovery coming along?
"It's going well, yeah. I've been out for three months now and it's been frustrating, but I'm hoping to be back in about two weeks once I've got my fitness back.
"I think there's some games with the Under-21s coming up that I can play in and then it's all about fitness before I can get back in the first team. I've been out for three months and missed most of pre-season, so I just need to get back fully fit."
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It was quite an odd one how it happened wasn't it? Just on the training ground with a teammate?
"Yeah it was one of those that's quite easily done. I was just running with the ball when Toumani Diagouraga's studs went into my foot. It was a complete accident and he didn't mean to, but it's just one of those things."
Brentford didn't get off to the best of starts after Mark Warburton's departure under Marinus Dijkhuizen, but Lee Carsley's in charge now and you're doing quite well...
"Yeah we're flying at the moment. We got nine points in the last week or so and everyone around the club is buzzing. We've got another big game coming up against QPR and if we get another win we can really push on.
"I've spoken to Lee a few times and he seems like a really good guy, so I'm really looking forward to working with him."
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Like you say, it's been a great run of form for the team. Are you confident of being able to get in the side when you're fit?
"Well you've got to be confident haven't you? At the moment I'm mainly focusing on getting my fitness levels back up and then hopefully I can get a chance in the team."
With Brentford going the way they are at the moment. Is a place in the playoffs the target again?
"Yeah I don't see why not. Last year we unfortunately lost in the semis, but there was some new faces like myself this summer that I think have improved the team.
"We're on a good run at the moment, but we just need to taking things game by game and I think there's no reason we can't reach the playoffs again."
One of your midfield teammates, Alan Judge, has been in superb form recently. His goal against Charlton was brilliant - is he one of the best players in the whole league at the moment?
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"I think the stats would show that he is the best. He's been scoring and assisting plenty of our goals this season, so on current form I'd say he's the best player in the Championship right now."
When you were at Chelsea you had a number of loan spells away, both in the lower leagues in England and also in the Dutch top flight with Vitesse. How different were those two experiences for you?
"I really enjoyed going over to Holland. Moving country was a big ask for me because not many young English players do it, but I'd recommend others to do it because I learnt a lot, both culturally and on the pitch as well.
"It's not as demanding as the English lower leagues. It's much more technical and there's only one game a week most of the time, whereas in leagues like the Championship you often have two or even three.
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"There's not enough young players going out and trying other leagues. If there's an option to go to a top-league club in another country, I'd definitely give it a go over a League One or League Two team."
So you think at that stage of your career it's more important to hone your technical skills then have some real battles?
"Well I'd say a bit of both, to be honest. Working hard and having those tough matches is good, but I think if you go to a top club then the standard of football is going to be better, which obviously helps."
Your former club Chelsea are not having the best of times at the moment. What do you make of their struggles?
"I'm not too sure really. I don't want to say too much about it because I haven't really spoken to anyone at the club about it. They're just going through a tricky patch at the moment, but the manager they have (Jose Mourinho) is one of the best in the world and I think they'll turn it around. If they get a good result against Liverpool on Saturday they can go on from there.
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And you've worked with Mourinho in the past - would you be surprised to see him sacked?
"Yeah I would. After what he's done for the club, the fans and players love him and I'd be really surprised if he went, but then again it's football, isn't it? Anything can happen."
McEachran was speaking on behalf of Sky Bet at the London Poppy Day in Leadenhall Market. Signed match-worn Poppy shirts from the 24 Sky Bet Championship clubs will be auctioned in aid of The Royal British Legion. To register your interest for an alert when the shirts are on sale, visit: www.skybet.com/poppy
