Ten years ago next week, David Beckham left Europe for America, determined to extend his career and take Major League Soccer to a new level.
That same summer, another English midfielder upped sticks and crossed the Atlantic too, but unlike Beckham, Luke Mulholland barely had a penny to his name.
Just 18 years old, he flew to the United States with a couple of bags in his possession and an invitation to study sports management at Wingate University in North Carolina after gaining a scholarship by impressing scouts during a tour of the country with Preston College.
Mulholland only planned to stop for four years until he completed his degree, but he still resides in the US after climbing the ladder through college football, and the second and third tiers of the American pyramid before joining Major League Soccer franchise Real Salt Lake three years ago.
One of the many highlights of Mulholland’s career will come in the early hours of tomorrow morning when he faces Manchester United in their pre-season friendly at the Rio Tinto Stadium.
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Mulholland describes the friendly as “a bit of a nuisance” given that Salt Lake are halfway through their season and have a match against Portland Timbers on Thursday, but he is still looking forward to testing himself against the likes of Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku and Ander Herrera.
The fact that he is a Liverpool fan will spur Mulholland on, but there is another objective too – to show the doubters that the MLS is no longer a league that should be scoffed at.
“It’s a better league than most people give it credit for,” said Mulholland, 28.
“I’m not a typical Brit any more. I have broadened my horizons and the MLS has boomed over the last ten years. Beckham opened doors for players like myself and it’s definitely improving every year.”
As Beckham settled into his multimillion-dollar six-bedroom Beverly Hills mansion a decade ago, Mulholland was turning out for Wingate’s university team, the Wingate Bulldogs.
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To make ends meet, Mulholland worked as the team’s kit man, washing the jerseys after training and matches.
“The foreign lads can’t get a normal job like the American kids can,” he said.
“I was basically the laundry man $7 an hour and could only do 30 hours per month max
“We had to get a job on campus, so I was basically the laundry man for my whole time there. It was $7 (about £5.35) an hour and you can only do 30 hours per month max.”
In his final year Mulholland was named the NCAA Division II First Team All-American and South Athletic Conference Player of the Year.
Even when the Wilmington Hammerheads handed Mulholland his first professional contract, he still had to take two part-time jobs, one behind a bar and another in the office of a legal firm – to make ends meet as his new club, who were playing in the third tier of American soccer, were only paying him $900 (about £688) per month.
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After winning back to back to back NASL titles with Minnesota Stars and the Tampa Bay Rowdies, Real Salt Lake took out a first-option clause on Mulholland.
“They call it a discovery right,” he said.
“I’m not sure how it works, but I think every MLS team can put five of these out on players in the lower leagues and maybe collegiate level.
“My agent called me and he didn’t know what it was either.
“I decided to move. It was a roll of the dice. I didn’t have a clue where Utah was. I’d heard it was near Las Vegas so I thought it doesn’t sound too bad then, but it’s definitely nothing like Las Vegas. It’s very quiet, with a lot of mountains, but it’s been a good fit for me.”
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Mulholland is a unique character in the MLS. Unlike his English contemporaries, he has never been on the books of a professional club back home.
“That is what I am most proud of - that I have done this despite never playing in a professional English youth team,” he said.
“I was never on the books of [hometown club] Preston. I never had that professional guidance. I am just a street baller that went over to America.
“I had never been coached at youth level professionally like these YTS [Youth Training Scheme] boys, so even though I missed out on that experience I have still been able to get where I am.
“Not many [English] people have done it like I have, coming through the leagues.”
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Mulholland never expects to play in England. He is settled in the States, “Americanised,” as he puts it, although “trash can” and “sidewalk” have not part of his lexicon yet.
The Lancastrian obtained a Green Card in 2014, meaning he no longer is registered as a foreign player and he earns almost £132,000 per year with his current club.
The only downside to living in Salt Lake City, which is surrounded by mountains, is that he cannot partake in winter sports under the terms of his contract.
“It’s annoying that we can’t take advantage of that as it’s right on our doorstep, but if one player hurts himself skiing or snowboarding then it’s a breach of the contract,” he said.
The only time he goes back home is at Christmas, when he likes to take in Liverpool games.
“Liverpool seem to always have fixtures like Stoke around that time, so I’ve never been to a Liverpool-United match,” he says.
Before he takes to the field at 8pm local time tonight (Tuesday 3am BST) against Liverpool’s0 old rivals, he has other important business to attend to. Mulholland is studying online for a Masters in sports management. He studies 16 hours per week and his mind is occupied right now with a paper he is preparing on business law.
“When I am done playing, I am interested in working my way up to be the general manager or the technical director in one of the clubs out here,” he says.
Given Beckham’s struggle to set up his Miami franchise, maybe Mulholland will be in charge of an MLS side before the famous former England captain.