He was so highly-rated at Manchester City that he was named the Academy Player of the Year in 2014. He went on two pre-season tours with Manuel Pellegrini and lived the dream of thousands by making a senior debut in 2016. Trent Alexander-Arnold called him the toughest opponent he has ever faced, predicting he will be the 'best player in the world.' But a few loans later and the arrival of Pep Guardiola forced Brandon Barker to look elsewhere for regular football. The tricky winger secured a high-profile move to Rangers, playing in Europe, and went on to enjoy a decent EFL career. However, a string of unfortunate injuries saw Barker slide down the leagues and, after snapping his hamstring two games into a short-term spell at Morecambe last season - designed to put himself back in the shop window - he was released. And then the phone stopped ringing. For the first time in his career that once promised so much, Barker was without a club at just 28. "My phone wasn't ringing which was ultimately a little bit surprising considering the level I've played at," Barker tells the Manchester Evening News. "I've played at the clubs I've played at for a reason. It must be the injuries. I've not played a lot of football so people need to trust me again in that aspect. "It's disheartening, it humbles you back down to reality, massively. Sometimes it can get a bit lonely in the windows when you're not signed up to clubs and you're having that worry about what you're going to be doing the next day, week, month. It's not nice but it's the same for most footballers." But Barker never gave up. He moved back home to Manchester which was a welcome benefit to come from all the uncertainty of a nomadic lower-league footballer. A loan from City sent him to NAC Breda in Holland and another spell in 2022 took him to Cyprus for a season, where he faced Manchester United and Cristiano Ronaldo for Omonia Nicosia in the Europa League . "I feel I've got a lot more to give," he says. "I've been making sacrifices since I was seven years old. There's no point me chucking that in when my body is still intact and I'm still in a healthy shape. That would be letting myself down." After months of hitting the gym and waiting for an opportunity, Barker has wound up at an unlikely new home - the Limeside estate in Oldham, home of eighth-tier side Avro FC. "It's great being back living at home and playing football again," he said. "My aspirations are to get back into the Football League as quickly as possible. I've enjoyed my time here, it's a lot different to what I've obviously grown up with in my ten years of being professional. It's been fun. "You're surrounded by a bunch of very down to earth people who work most of the week which is different to anything I've been a part of before. It's definitely refreshing. The level has been surprisingly decent to be fair." Avro are even playing in Europe - Barker featured in the fan-organised Fenix Trophy win over Oslo FC, setting up a last-four tournament in Milan later this season where they could face nearby FC United. It was an unlikely return to European competition for a player more used to being on the bench in the Champions League or starting in the Europa League. Still, it is a far cry from training with David Silva, Sergio Aguero and Yaya Toure, and scoring in the opening of the Academy Stadium, coming through the City system as one of the most highly-rated talents. Starting at Platt Lane as a boy, Barker saw City move to the state-of-the-art City Football Academy and was a regular in first team training under Pellegrini. "I built a decent name for myself down there," he reflects. "It was phenomenal considering some of the players I was playing with at the time. It was a sad feeling to leave but you have to get on with your career." "There was just world class players in every position. No better place [to develop], but that's why it was so hard to break through. You can be the best version of yourself and sometimes that's just not better than what they are." Barker was part of an all-conquering EDS side that can be found all around the EFL these days and in Europe. He is a former England youth teammate of Dele Alli and Marcus Rashford and calls his City wing partner Angelino 'the most phenomenal, gifted footballer I've seen.' He made headlines recently when Liverpool and England talisman Trent Alexander-Arnold called him the best player he has faced in his career. "I was 18, playing for the Under-21s, first ever time at Anfield, got beat 3-0," Alexander-Arnold said in 2023. "He scored two and got an assist. I came off at 60. Still to this day, he's the opponent I think that just destroyed me, man. I've never had it like that before. "At that point I'm thinking: 'this kid is going to be the best player in the world' because I'd never seen someone move so quickly and sharp and effectively." Barker has a more modest view of that particular game. "I remember the game well," he says. "He was very young to be fair. I didn't come off the pitch thinking I've just tore him a new one because he was so young and small, he wasn't who he is now. "I didn't come off thinking I'd just done that [to Alexander-Arnold]. Nobody really knew he'd reach the heights that he did. But to be fair I was doing that most weekends at that level!" When Pellegrini left and Guardiola arrived, Barker found himself in a historic position with most of the City first team away on Euro 2016 duty. The winger was given a start on Guardiola's first ever team sheet - a friendly defeat to a strong Bayern Munich side - however his memories of the game are not particularly positive despite the significance. "I didn't do too well in that game!" he jokes. "Bayern was a powerful force and they put out a very strong XI, it was a difficult game and I don't remember seeing the ball too much. It was a lot of running. "Pep was phenomenal when he first came in. You could tell straight away. You have that inkling like 'he can't be that good as people say'. When he came in you could tell it was even higher than anything you've ever seen before, and what he's gone on to do for a club that means so much to me is amazing. "The small defining details, he'd tell you something would happen and it would. It was crazy, in a game where it's such an off-the-cuff game you can't predict it but he could quite easily." But Barker's chances were reduced under Guardiola and a series of loans followed. He doesn't reflect too positively on the loan system or the manner of his City exit. "I wasn't happy with some of my loans I went on. But it's life," he says with no hard feelings or regrets. "The one thing about football is you rarely get your own way. Now it's much better, it would have been nice to have that network when I was going out on loans. But the loan system very rarely works in my opinion. I'd say about 10 per cent of the time it works in someone's favour. If it was a good system people would come back and play or move to a stronger team than what most seem to do, in my opinion. But I don't want to dwell on the past." A permanent move to Rangers followed, and Barker is positive about his journey that has taken him from the CFA to Ibrox, Cyprus, Reading and now a council estate in Oldham with Avro. He insists he will be back in the EFL and will be stronger for it. "You can be taken out of the sport at any moment, so just keep enjoying in it," is his message to youngsters in the academy system. "Stay true to yourself, just be yourself. That's all I can say. I think I've done that myself so I can't advise people to not do what I've done. "Everyone's career is different, and ultimately sometimes it just doesn't work out the way you want it to work out. Life goes on, it's not the end of the world. "I'm 28, I say I'm getting to the latter stages of my career but the way football is going people are playing a lot longer. I feel good, relatively low mileage, I've only played like 200 games. I feel like I can go again. It's been a phenomenal journey so far and not one I'm ready to give up on yet."