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Max Sanders could not help wondering what might have been as he sat at home watching some of his peers helping Brighton & Hove Albion win away to champions Liverpool.
Ben White, Robert Sanchez, Aaron Connolly and Steven Alzate, who scored the only goal at Anfield that night in February, were all born within 15 months of the 22-year-old midfielder.
They have all progressed from Brighton’s academy to become part of the Premier League plans of head coach Graham Potter.
Sanders came through that academy as well, starting from a much younger age, but he is now preparing for his first full season with Lincoln City, having finally severed his ties with a club he’d joined at the age of eight to make a permanent move to the League One side — 48 hours before Brighton’s Liverpool triumph.