By Rajvir Rai
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It's 2004, and a small but skilful teenage winger is being told by Arsenal, his boyhood team, that he is not strong enough or fast enough to progress further at the club.
The 15-year-old is told he can stay for one more season, but his chances of playing will be limited.
Undeterred, the headstrong lad leaves and starts a remarkable eight-year journey that will culminate on Tuesday night when he comes up against the club that let him go.
Bring it on: Reading's Hal Robson-Kanu (right) is looking forward to facing Arsenal
The tale of Hal Robson-Kanu, Reading's 23-year-old winger, whose last-gasp equaliser rescued a point against Fulham on Saturday, is cautionary and inspiring.
It includes two serious cruciate ligament injuries, loan spells in League One and an eventual rise to Premier League and international football.
As Robson-Kanu says: 'Some people can't believe how far I've come and how quickly.'
To fully appreciate his journey, first we must rewind to his Arsenal days.
Robson-Kanu grew up in west London and joined the club as a 10-year-old.
Jay Simpson, now of Hull, was in his age group while Fabrice Muamba, formerly of Bolton, and Matthew Connolly, now of Cardiff, were a year ahead.
In the younger ranks were Emmanuel Frimpong and a certain Jack Wilshere.
'It was brilliant to be part of that,' reflects Robson-Kanu. 'But I was one of the smallest players in the squad. I wasn't fast enough, strong enough or big enough.
Bulking up: Arsenal reckoned Robson-Kanu was too small to make it
'Arsenal said they knew I had the quality to be a football player and were happy for me to stay another year till I was 16, but because of my size and physical attributes they said if another club wanted to take me then they would let me go.'
It's a message that countless young, technically gifted footballers have heard over the decades.
Many have fallen by the wayside, but fortunately for Robson-Kanu he had caught the eye of a progressive young manager who saw past his physical deficiencies.
'Brendan Rodgers was the academy manager at Reading and he liked what he had seen of me,' says Robson-Kanu.
'He told me I would progress through the ranks and become a first-team player and I liked what he had to say.
'A few other clubs came in for me but I chose Reading and haven't looked back since.'
His development, however, was twice checked by serious injury.
National service: Robson-Kanu is a Wales international
'I was out for nearly three years. I was 16 when I did my cruciate ligament for the first time in a youth game and then 17-and-a-half when it happened again,' says Robson-Kanu.
'It was a tough period and anyone who has been through that kind of thing knows how hard you have to work to get back to the level you were at before and in my case to an even better level.'
Comeback and improve he did. Loan spells at Swindon and Southend provided valuable first-team experience and caps at England Under 19 and 20 level followed.
And by the end of the 2009-2010 season, half a decade after he had left Arsenal, Robson-Kanu had established himself in the Reading first team and made his senior Wales debut, having switched allegiances from England.
As he prepares to face Arsenal for the first time as a professional, he feels no bitterness or resentment.
'It is a fantastic club with a fantastic ethos. It was a great grounding and we had some great coaches – Neil Banfield (now first-team coach), Steve Bould (now assistant manager) and Dermot Drummy (now Chelsea reserve manager),' he says.
'They've changed their policy now and don't let players go at that age without giving them a proper chance to grow and develop.
'Within two years of leaving Arsenal I had grown upwards and outwards and got stronger and faster.
'We played Arsenal in a youth team game a few years after I had left and their coaches, Steve Bould and Liam Brady, couldn't believe it when they saw me again. They came over afterwards and were shocked at the size of me.'
On Tuesday, Robson-Kanu, all 6ft 1in and 85kg of him, will be hoping to shock his old club once again.
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