Once tipped for greatness like his Everton Academy team-mate Ross Barkley, Gerard Kinsella hit rock bottom with a telephone call from his club Fleetwood Town in February 2013. Kinsella was ordered in and it was confirmed he had failed a drugs test. The anabolic steroid nandrolone had been discovered in his system and once the wheels of justice had turned, he was hit with a two-year ban — the longest punishment for any current professional player in England. But behind the bald facts of a so-called ‘drugs cheat’ is a tragic story of a young player driven to depression and despair by the difficulties he faced trying to achieve his dream.
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Kinsella was once tipped for greatness at Everton's Academy
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Was a team-mate of Toffees and England star Ross Barkley
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Hit with a ban in  2013 after he had failed a drugs test
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Maintains he never deliberately took performance-enhancing drugs
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Recently given green light by the FA to train again with a football club
Everton Academy
Academy
Having first joined @placeholder at the tender age of seven, Kinsella was held in high regard at the club during his teenage years.
Gerard Kinsella
Kinsella
Kinsella
He arranged for the shoulder injury to be cleared up properly, with one of the country’s leading surgeons operating on @placeholder for five hours.