Prodigy who roomed with Bellingham eyes revival under Maradona's son
On the streets they call him 'Kego'. The one-time wonderkid left to train alone in a concrete wilderness of city towerblock staircases. A cage footballer for hire, a pick-up game artist on speed dial. The embers of his professional dream still flickering in a footballing underworld.
Kevin Gonzalez Quintero was once Jude Bellingham's England room-mate, played in the same youth teams as Jamal Musiala and Harvey Elliott and was the guy a young Jhon Duran would ask for boots.
"Jude, he is a great lad," remembers Kego. "He is very chill, a great person on and off the pitch. You can see why he is where he is today. Since that very young age he has had that leadership. Very mature."
His father once played for Deportivo Cali, but Kego's parents packed up and left a Colombia that he says was in the grip of Pablo Escobar and the nation's drug cartels to swap South America for a new life in south London before he was born.
That allowed Kego to shine in front of Crystal Palace scouts, joining the Eagles aged eight and later winning their academy player of the year.
After a decade with Palace he believed he was destined for the Premier League and life on the international stage. As well as England, Kego represented Colombia at youth level.
"It was a dream," he says. "I always wanted to play for Colombia. Duran was there with me. He is a funny guy.
"He has always been good, but he wasn't banging in goals like that. Which shows his dedication, his time. It worked out for him. I'm very happy for him, too. He deserves it, I saw how hard it was for him.
"I remember him asking me for football boots. Just seeing him now is like 'wow, you have grown so much and I am proud of you, man'."
Those players have gone on to represent some of the world's biggest clubs - Bellingham at Real Madrid, Musiala at Bayern Munich and Elliott at Liverpool, while former Aston Villa striker Duran is making his fortune in Saudi Arabia.
But for Kego, it didn't work out like that.
He was released by Palace at 18 and, via false dawns and broken promises, spent four years travelling the world, trialling in 14 different countries, yearning for a professional contract.
"I thought I was going to have the world at my feet," says the now 22-year-old. "I played with Colombia, I played with England. I was at Palace for 10 years. I was pretty sure I'd get a club, easily, but then I got exposed to the real world, quickly."
