Robbie Paratore was 18 years old and captain of Leicester City's Under-18 side when he realized he was in a real, live Catch-22. His scholar contract -- the two-year deal that governs most players in England between the ages of 16 and 18 -- was coming to an end. And while the club offered him a one-year professional contract, he wasn't convinced he had a future at the club.
"So I asked my agent whether we could use this offer as leverage to go somewhere else [since I would be a free agent]," he says. "He immediately dismissed it.