Rich-Baghuelou first started playing football as a kid in Paris.

When he returned to Australia at the age of 10 he turned out for Palm Beach and Gold Coast City, but overlooked by A-League clubs as a teenager, he decided to chance his arm in the UK.

“I came to England to play football,” he said.

“My dad thought it would better if I came to England because I could do something here. The teams in Australia weren’t really noticing me that much.

“So he thought maybe we need to go with a different approach – other people need to see you, different coaches. I lived with my aunty in Croydon. When I came there was no club, I came from scratch.

“I didn’t know where to start looking.”

Rich-Baghuelou joined Dulwich Hamlet in the National League South. He started in the club’s academy at the age of 18 as a striker, but was soon moved to central defence where he thrived.

“After that I never looked back,” he said. “Then I got called up to play in the first-team, started playing there and then league clubs came to watch me.

"I went to trial with Charlton, then Fulham came in for me to trial. Nothing materialised with that so I went back to my original trial with Charlton.”

At first the 20-year-old’s trials came to nothing, and he returned home to the Gold Coast disillusioned.

“I was upset that nothing had happened,” he admitted. “I went back to Australia for a holiday.

"I felt too much pressure to play football and I didn’t want to come back to England. I was going to stay in Australia.

“Then my uncle and aunty were in touch with Charlton and they wanted me back to train with them in pre-season. So I came back, went back to Dulwich and was training with Charlton.”