I’m a Premier League and England icon… I rejected chance to run 100m for Great Britain to chase my footballing dream
AARON LENNON enjoyed a football career playing at the very top of the beautiful game.
But things could have turned out differently had he opted to run for Great Britain in the 100m instead.
Lennon, 36, was once a top name in the Premier League.
After starting his career at Leeds, the winger went on to play 364 times for Tottenham.
Lennon, who was capped 21 times by England, also enjoyed spells at Everton and Burnley.
And he called time on his career in November 2022 with 607 club appearances to his name.
Lennon was widely regarded as one of the fastest players in the top flight.
The speedster was famous for his ability to beat opponents in a foot chase on the byline.
And Lennon admits he had the chance to focus on becoming a sprinter instead of a footballer when he was a kid.
The son of Yorkshire would beat rivals hands-down while working with a coach at school.
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Lennon was even offered the chance to run for Team GB.
But he turned down the lure of the 100m dash to chase his dream of becoming a footballer.
Lennon told talkSPORT: “I’ve never done it (raced 100m), my school didn’t do that. We just raced each other around the street.
“I did one race for the fastest in Yorkshire, others turned up with their blocks and I was ready with my trainers, but I won it easily.
“The first part was 30m and timed, and the top eight went into a 100m that wasn’t time, but I won it comfortably.
“I had a coach saying ‘do you want to run for west Yorkshire?’ and ‘do you want to run for Great Britain?’.
“I was like ‘I want to play football, it’s not for me’.”
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