Tommie Hoban won’t give up on his Premier League dream

The Arsenal’s academy graduate showed signs of his brilliant talent while he broke into Watford’s first-team aged 17, but due to struggles with two cruciate ligament injuries, he feared that he might have to hang up his boots early.

His second ligament injury came during his loan spell at

Aberdeen

on loan from

Watford

, which led to him being released by the Hornets. After a year without a club, he signed a short-term deal with

Aberdeen

, where he didn’t put

Derek McInnes

down with his solid performances.

Although he will be only focused on the next match, he insists he won’t give up on his dreams.

“It was very tough not knowing if I’d be able to salvage my career,”

said the centre-back.

“Things started pretty well down at Watford but the levels I was hoping to play at haven’t quite materialised yet.

“Every time I’d keep coming back from injury, something else would come up, it was mentally very tough.

“But I had a good support network around me which kept me strong. Deep down I felt I could never stop until I literally can’t do it anymore.

“I’m just really happy that Aberdeen have given me this opportunity to play football again.

“Hopefully I can keep getting fitter and stronger and repay them back with my performances on the pitch.

“I do still have those aspirations of playing in the Premier League. I think if you lose them then you lose what it’s all about. When you start playing football as a kid, you dream of playing at the top level and I still do dream of that today. I still feel I have a chance to get there.

“But the only way I’m going to get there is by staying fit and playing well, and that starts with the game on Sunday at Kilmarnock.”

He added:

“It’s great to be back playing as there was a time five or six months ago where I wasn’t sure if I would be back at this level.

“My body still wasn’t feeling great but thankfully I seem to be overcoming all of that now.

“I’m just trying to take it one game at a time. Hopefully if by the end of the season I’ve chalked up 30 or 40 games.”

Aberdeen

will face

Kilmarnock

at Rugby Park today; a win would make them level with second-place

Celtic

. Although the hoops have two games less than

Aberdeen

,

Hoban

believes the win would lift them mentally in their pursuit for second place.

“Mentally seeing ourselves up there level with them in the table would give us a massive boost,”

he said.

“I always think the table never lies and seeing us level with Celtic would show we are as good as them.

“We’ve still got to play them three times before the end of the season and those games will be massive, so it’s vitally important we keep ourselves up there in the meantime.”