Former Hampton School boy Max Kretzschmar is not your typical footballer and certainly does not have money to burn.

The 20-year-old sees his time at Wycombe Wanderers as an opportunity to make it in the pro ranks and is not under the false impression he has made it.

Non-League football is littered with a host of players trading on a handful of Football League appearances, regretting the chance that got away.

That could have been him after being told as a 14-year-old he would not make it with Southampton’s famed academy.

But Kretzschmar, who has the trappings of a good education behind him, insists he will not take the same path as the journeyman part-timers who could have been contenders.

“I was at Southampton from the age of 10 years old until I was about 14, when they told me I wouldn’t be kept on,” said the young Chairboys midfielder.

“I had trials at Brentford and some other clubs, but Wycombe offered me the chance to join them on a scholarship when I was 16 and that was it.

“Now I have a full professional contract I’m on decent money for someone my age, but it is not a fortune. I still live at home.

“When I signed my new contract the manager sold it to me as an opportunity. It is a chance to go somewhere in the game, the chance for more.

“It is up to me to make the most of it and I’m enjoying it at the moment.”

Kretzschmar is English born to German parents and still lives a short walk from Met Police’s home ground Imber Court in East Molesey.

He is currently enjoying football life to the tune of three goals in 23 appearances for the League Two club this term, but has not found the net since October.

The youngster, who has two A* grades, seven As and one B at GCSE level, did not get much of a look in at Adams Park under boss Gareth Ainsworth last term and spent the summer knuckling down to make the most of his second season.

And Kretzschmar is only too pleased the extra curricular activity is beginning to pay off.

“This is my second year as a pro now so I have got to keep working,” he added.

“I did not get many opportunities last season and that was something I wanted to sort out.

“I’ve always been fit in terms of my cardiovascular fitness, but I was a bit too slim last year, which is why I did not get many chances in the first team.

“But I built muscle over the summer and I’m stronger now and the manager trusts me.

“Football was hard when I was at school because my friends were always going out and enjoying themselves while I was staying home.

“It is easier now they are at uni because they are off doing their own thing now and I do not see them as much.

“It gives me the opportunity to concentrate on my game.”