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Heard the one about the former Inter Milan winger who received a Champions League winners’ medal which he lost – and is now playing in the FA Cup qualifying rounds?
As a teenager, he trained alongside players such as Patrick Vieira under the watchful eye of Jose Mourinho, Inter’s boss at the time.
Greenhalgh, from Orpington, travelled with Inter to the 2010 Champions League final when the Italian giants beat Bayern Munich in Madrid to secure a European and domestic treble.
He was even given a Champions League winners’ medal which he lost after using it as a golf ball marker – before being reunited with it many months later.
A decade on from his Inter experience, Greenhalgh, 28, plays for Kent non-league club Tonbridge Angels in the sixth tier of English football.
“I don’t feel shame being remembered as the teenager who was at Inter Milan,” he says as he prepares for Saturday’s FA Cup second qualifying round tie at Farnborough.
- FA Cup second qualifying round fixtures
‘My legs turned to jelly’
It was after he made his Welling United debut at the age of 16 that Greenhalgh auditioned for a reality television series to find a young player who could be “the next big thing”.
With a professional contract at Inter on offer to the winner, the show was flooded with thousands of entries.
“It felt like the most important thing in the world at the time,” recalls Greenhalgh.
Soon after winning, he was on his way to Italy to begin his once-in-a-lifetime experience.
“Although I was part of the under-21 set-up, on occasions I would be invited to train with the first team alongside players who were on the Fifa football video game when I was growing up,” he says.
“I started running at Brazil defender Lucio and my legs turned to jelly. I remember getting a pass off Ricardo Quaresma. I was 17 and 18 at the time.”
Having won Serie A and the Coppa Italia in 2009-10, Inter travelled to Spain’s capital for the Champions League final. Two goals by Diego Milito secured a 2-0 win over Bayern and landed Mourinho a European and domestic treble.
As a member of Inter’s travelling party to Madrid, Greenhalgh received a Champions League winners’ medal, a keepsake to treasure for the rest of his life.
A few years after returning to England, he discovered it was missing.
‘Medal was an icebreaker’
A keen amateur golfer, Greenhalgh turned professional in 2015 and was accepted onto the PGA circuit, playing one-day competitions while continuing to play part-time football at Essex club Concord Rangers.
He would often use the Champions League medal as a golf ball marker.
“Some golfers are very serious. The medal was an icebreaker,” says Greenhalgh, who soon discovered he had lost the memento from one of Inter’s most famous nights.
Initially, he thought he had left it on a golf course or in a clubhouse.
Greenhalgh says he was resigned to not seeing it again when it turned up 18 months later – in his car.
“It was under a seat. I was so relieved to see it. I don’t think I’ll be using it for golf again,” he says.
‘A head full of memories’
After spending 18 months at Inter, which included a loan spell at Serie C club Como, Greenhalgh returned to England hoping his time in Italy would alert a host of professional clubs.
Although he landed a contract with Brighton’s development squad, he craved first-team action and made a decision to go into non-league.
“I knew I’d be labelled the ex-Inter Milan player playing non-league but I needed first-team football, even if it meant dropping down,” he says.
Apart from a short spell in Scotland with Inverness Caledonian Thistle, which included a loan move to Stenhousemuir, Greenhalgh has trawled the non-league circuit around Kent, Essex and Hertfordshire.
Now full-time academy manager at Dartford, which he combines with playing for Tonbridge and the occasional golf competition, Greenhalgh is passing on his experience to a new generation of players.
“I didn’t get to play a competitive game for the first team at Inter but I have a head full of memories,” he says.
“I was there when they won the treble. I was in the changing room after they beat Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final at the San Siro.
“No one can take that away from me.”