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"He’s like a mythical figure that you hear about in all of the stories, the hairdryers and the kick of the boot at Beckham and things like that," Davis laughed as he recalled meeting Ferguson for the first time. It was eye-opening for a little kid from Australia, just mindblowing."ĭavis also had encounters with Sir Alex Ferguson. "Derek Langley, who was the scout that brought me over, took me around the training ground and we bumped into Ronaldo, Giggsy and Rooney on my first day. "United were and arguably still are the biggest club in the world. "It was emphatic, everything was new and it was so exciting," Davis said. "It coincided with my dad having family over here and it was quite an easy move - I never looked back."ĭavis had gone from kicking a ball around with his friends in Brisbane to mixing it with United's first-team stars. Within a couple of weeks, I had left Australia and signed for United. That took the pressure out of my hands and helped a lot. "They tried to say we weren’t moving because of me and that it was something they wanted to do. They did a really good job of protecting me in that regard and taking the pressure away. "I never spoke directly with anybody, it was my mum and dad sorting things out. "To be honest, it was a little bit of a whirlwind for me, I think I was naive to it all," Davis recalled. The attention and media interest had the potential to become a dangerous distraction, but he credits his parents for playing a crucial role in shielding him. He'll train with us after school and at weekends." Davis initially moved with his dad, and his mum and two brothers soon followed.ĭavis had become an internet sensation and he was being compared to Rooney almost overnight. "We regularly get sent videos and DVDs of youngsters showing their skills, but it's rare they are of the quality that we need. Rhain is British and lived here for the first four years of his life before moving to Australia. A spokesman for United said at the time: "We take on about 40 boys of that age each year to the Academy. The DVD worked and United offered to bring Davis to the club.
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Davis' control of the ball was exceptional for someone of his age and he was recorded doing stepovers, Cruyff turns and Maradona turns, which prompted excitement. In the footage, Davis is less than 4ft tall and he's seen dancing around the opposition. My dad put a video together and they sent it over to clubs all over the place and United were the first to respond."ĭavis was dubbed the 'Roo kid on the block'. "The games were filmed anyway, Australia kind of pioneered that video analysis, especially compared to England at that age group. I started playing up with those guys, a couple of years above me, so p laying with his age group, it was kind of obvious that I was better than kids my own age. "My dad was actually the manager of my older brother, Emerson's team. "I started early doors really, my dad is British so football was a big part of his life and he embedded that in us as kids," Davis said. He's now aged 24 and he's kindly agreed to retell his story. Davis has lived in Knutsford, Cheshire, since moving to England aged nine.ĭavis paused for a moment as he took his mind back to where it all began. When Davis answered the phone, an Australian accent was expected, but he laughed as he admitted that his accent from down under was 'long gone'. I think if it happened now, it would have been an even bigger thing."
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" YouTube was big then, but social media was just up and coming. "That was the only time that I can really remember being blown away by how big it was back then," Davis explained about the publicity in 2007. The media were comparing a young child to England's best player.ĪLSO READ: The Manchester United fan injured in arena bomb who climbed Mount Kilimanjaro.
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Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, Davis recalled that was the moment he realised the enormity of exactly what he was going through. The video had gone viral on YouTube and it had been viewed by millions, with Davis performing stepovers and Cruyff turns. Davis' story had attracted intense national media attention after his grandad sent scouts a DVD of his skills, to which United responded. The youngster had just flown 11,000 miles from Brisbane in Australia to Cheshire, to join United's academy. The newspaper was comparing Davis to Manchester United's Wayne Rooney. Rhain Davis was in the Trafford Centre with his parents when he began to realise what was happening.ĭavis walked past someone with a newspaper and there was his nine-year-old face, pictured on the front page with the headline "ROO KID ON THE BLOCK," in bold capitals.