Marcus Rashford wasn’t the only Englishman involved in last night’s Catalan derby between Barcelona and Espanyol.
Lining up for Espanyol was 24-year-old Tyrhys Dolan, a Manchester lad who was playing for Clitheroe in the Northern Premier League five years ago.
From there he was signed by Blackburn and he was at Ewood until the end of last season when he turned down the offer of a new contract and in July signed for Espanyol.
Workington Reds manager Billy Barr, a coach at Blackburn at the time, remembers Dolan well.
“He came into Blackburn when I was doing the Under-23s but quickly moved up to the first team squad as then manager Tony Mowbray took a liking to him right away.
“He’s a lovely lad whose got where he is now off the back of hard work. He’s a great role model for any young aspiring footballer who has suffered disappointment. Fair play to him,” says Barr.
The last Briton to play for the Espanyol club was former Everton midfielder Adrian Heath in 1988 and Dolan has made a point of trying to learn as much about the culture, the people and the history of the club as he possibly can.
It was one of the first football clubs founded in Spain in 1900 and he was particularly impressed by the passion of the fans when his father showed him videos.
Last season Espanyol were very much in a relegation battle and only survived on the final day, but this time it’s been a dramatic change as they went into the Catalan derby fifth in the table.
Dolan has featured in 16 of Espanyol’s 17 games, starting 13 of them on the wing. They have won 10 times and are fifth, 13 points behind leaders Barcelona.
Five years ago, Dolan was playing seven leagues below England’s top flight after academy spells at Manchester City, Burnley and Preston, where he signed a scholarship but did not secure a professional contract.
There were rejections, releases and long periods of uncertainty.
If things hadn’t changed he might have been getting a phone call from Billy Barr asking if he wanted to rebuild his career at Workington like two other Blackburn Under-23s in Tyler Magliore and Isaac Whitehall.
