Aaron Nemane was always encouraged to play with personality coming through the ranks at Manchester City and it's his personality which has helped him shape a promising career that perhaps could hit further heights.

The 26-year-old is currently a key member of the Notts County side who, despite it being early days, look in contention for a second successive promotion.

The Magpies were involved in a titanic National League battle with Wrexham last season, losing out on the Championship in painful circumstances before bouncing back to win the play-offs after a dramatic semi-final and final where they twice claimed wins from the jaws of defeat.

They have adapted well to life back in the Football League and sit second in the League Two table.

For Nemane, it is a journey that started in France and has already taken in the Netherlands, Belgium and Scotland as well as the Etihad.

His family moved from France to north Manchester when he was a youngster and the promising footballer was quickly spotted by City.

He spent seven years coming through the ranks and graduating to the Academy set-up, where he twice played in FA Youth Cup finals.

The experience and education prepared him for a career in the game and his willingness to go where regular football took him saw him play on loan for Rangers, Go Ahead Eagles, Tubize and then permanently for Torquay United and now Notts County.

"I have had to go out of my comfort zone, leave Manchester to go to Scotland to Europe and then all the way down south to Torquay," says Nemane, speaking to the Manchester Evening News.

"I have been to a few countries playing and I have learnt different things, it has been good.

"It's been a learning curve for Nemane, a wide midfielder or wing back, where it took more than being schooled at City to succeed.

He was released by the Blues in 2019 and had to fight his way back into the Football League via a trial and then a spell at National League outfit Torquay, which began with a short-term deal and ended with a play-off final defeat and a move to Notts County.

"If anything coming from City was perhaps tougher because we were so used to how we would play at City and it is so different to anywhere else," he mused.

"You go to another environment and it is different to the way you have played all your life.

But that is what you have to, you have to adapt.

Not everyone is going to make it at City so you have to learn quick, you are in a different world.

You are not in an Academy at City, it is very different.

My game is still the same but perhaps a bit more consistent with how I play.

I haven't changed that much.

"It was that game that caught the eye of City as a 15-year-old.

Nemane played under Jason Wilcox and Patrick Vieira coming through the ranks and was a contemporary of Jadon Sancho, Brahim Diaz and Tosin Adarabioyo among others.

It was a place to develop and absorb with Nemane training with the first team several times under Manuel Pellegrini.

"We got to the FA Youth Cup final twice and didn't win it but that time was a great experience playing at places like Stamford Bridge and the Emirates," reflected Nemane of his City career.

"We had a lot of good players and a lot of them are doing really really well, I still speak to a lot of the lads.

"There was incredible competition for players, training with the first team was good and I managed to learn a lot from a lot of players.

I trained a few times with them which was incredible.

I learned so much.

"You have a few chats with the senior players, and they tell you to not be nervous and play how you are playing as there is obviously a reason why you have come up to train with us.

They can see you have ability and play with personality was always a big thing and to play how you had been.

""Obviously we wanted to win the league and our aim was still to get promoted," Nemane recalls.

"Going down 2-0 to Boreham Wood was not the plan, we conceded the second just before half time but we all trusted in ourselves and believed we could do it.

We created a lot of chances in that game and we knew that we could get back into it if we scored early in the second half.

It was a crazy game and then the final was unbelievable.

"We went behind so early on but we still stuck at what we wanted to do tactically, we didn't panic or rush our play and got over the line.

Those two games I think we led for two minutes which was the two minutes at the end of the Boreham Wood game!"And what of the Wrexham rivalry with so much attention on the Welsh club?"We went toe to toe with them, we would be first a while and then drop to second and vice versa," he said.

"We both set high standards for the league so it was good for us to both get promoted.

I don't think the Wrexham thing made it a rivalry other than we were two good teams.

We concentrated on ourselves and we did what we needed to do to get promoted.

That is what we set out to do.

"For Nemane, you sense his journey is only just beginning.

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