Ex-Swansea City and Bristol City star Lee Trundle names 'dream' club he wanted to play for | OneFootball

EFL cult hero Trundle did not get the opportunity to play for one club that is very close to his heart

Despite being a relative late-comer to the professional footballing world, it's fair to say that Lee Trundle made a huge impression on EFL fans of many clubs in the early 2000's.

A non-league player up until 2001 when Wrexham took a punt on him from Rhyl Town at the age of 24, Trundle proved to be worth every penny for the Red Dragons, who had him for two-and-a-bit years, where he scored 18 times, but they were unable to make money on the forward, as he headed to Swansea City in 2003 on a free transfer.

It was at The Vetch where Trundle became a household name, not just for his prolific goalscoring but also for his tricks and flicks which wowed supporters, and also gained him a cult following via Soccer AM's 'Showboat' segment.

Trundle's peak was perhaps in 2006-07, when he scored 19 goals in 34 League One games for the Swans, which was his final season as a permanent player for the club before he made the step up to the Championship with Bristol City, but he could never truly replicate his form at the higher level, although he did score five goals in 20 second tier outings for Swansea when back on loan in South Wales in 2009-10.

Lee Trundle failed to land dream Everton career move

Trundle was unable to earn a permanent contract with Swansea in 2010, something which he was very keen to get, and instead dropped back into the Welsh Premier League with Neath Town, which was seen as a real comedown from three years ago when he was at the top of his game.

A brief foray back into English football with Preston North End in 2012 failed to take off due to a knee injury, but even in his late 30s and 40s, he managed to be prolific in Wales once more for clubs like Llanelli Town, Haverfordwest County, Ammanford and Trefelin BGC, and he still plays lower league district football at 49 for Pure Swansea.

Whilst Trundle was never really able to make it at Championship level, there was hopes during his heyday at Swansea that he may make it all the way to the Premier League - but his dream move to Everton never transpired.

In late 2005, when Swansea City travelled to Tranmere Rovers in League One action, then-Everton manager David Moyes made the short trip to Prenton Park to watch Trundle - who was 29 years old at the time - in action.

Trundle failed to get on the scoresheet though in the 2-2 draw, and that was probably the end of his dream of playing for his boyhood club, despite his prolific scoring in the third tier of English football - it's something that still hurts the forward to this day, especially after he issued a 'come and get me' plea to Moyes.

"Moyes was in the crowd watching a few games but then nothing come of that," Trundle told Sport Bible.

"But obviously, me being an Everton fan, that would have been my dream come true to go and play for the Blues.”

Lee Trundle's Championship move may have come too little, too late for his career

After being a dominant force in-front of goal in League One between 2005 and 2007, many expected Trundle to be a big hit for Bristol City when signing for the Robins in a £1 million move.

At that point though, Trundle was soon to turn 31 years of age, which is probably for most players in the final years of their 'peak' form, and as it happened, he could never quite get to grips with the Championship, although he still played plenty of minutes as City made it to the Championship play-off final in 2008.

Had a move come a couple of years earlier - perhaps when Trundle had scored 22 times in League Two for Swansea in 2004-05, then he could've become a top Championship player, but it spoke volumes that just two years after playing in a play-off final with Bristol City, he was back playing in the Welsh leagues for Neath.

Whilst Trundle will forever be an EFL cult hero for his goals and skills, there was perhaps the potential of a Premier League player in there - he just got discovered perhaps too late in what could've been a Jamie Vardy-esque story before Jamie Vardy became known.