Former Crystal Palace and Tottenham Hotspur prospect John Bostock has revealed he is “very happy” to be judged on football ability after joining Lens this summer.
Bostock came up through the ranks at Selhurst Park before making his first-team breakthrough in 2007, aged just 15, making four league appearances for Palace.
A highly-rated midfielder at the time, he joined Spurs a year later looking to make an impact in the Premier League.
The 24-year-old failed to impress though and was loaned out to Brentford, Hull City, Sheffield Wednesday, Swindon Town and MLS side Toronto during his time at White Hart Lane, before leaving the club in 2013 after failing to make a single league appearance.
Bostock has now made the switch to Ligue 2 club Lens this summer, and has now looked back on his journey to this point after further spells abroad.
“I moved to Spurs, I learned a lot and I enjoyed my time there but it didn’t turn out how I would have liked it to, but I would like to be defined as someone who never gave up and tried to make the best of his abilities and talents,” he told ITV.
“It wasn’t a safe move for me to move abroad, to bring my family to another country where we don’t speak the language, it’s not comfortable but so far it’s been a very productive opportunity for me.
“I spent three years in Belgium playing and last year was my first year in the Jupiler Pro league, the first division in Belgium.”
He continued: “I had a few options across Europe in Italy, France, England, Holland and Belgium so it was important for me to choose the best fit really and when Lens came as an option, as a young English player you don’t really know too much about the history of the club but as soon as I came and saw the set-up, it’s like an institution, it’s a huge club with huge ambitions to get back to where they want to be.
“It just felt like the fit was right with the club and they showed great desire to try and get me through the door and I’m very happy with my choice.
“I’d like to be defined as a player who is hungry to achieve, a player who is not trying to live up to that 15-year-old hype, keen to learn the game and enjoy the game. I want to try to play at the highest level possible, so however that looks, whatever country that’s in I am hungry to do it.
“I’ve enjoyed it abroad as I’m just judged on my footballing ability, on how I play in each individual match whereas in the past, in England, if I didn’t perform or even if I did play well, people might say ‘why is he not got to the heights where we thought he was going to be?’
“Here I’m relatively unknown – I come with a little bit of expectation as they know my history – but I’m just judged on how I play, putting in a shift for the team, helping my teammates and that’s great.”
Lens begin next season with an away clash at Niort, before games against Tours FC and Nîmes in the following weeks.