Jordan Green says his journey from stacking shelves on night shifts at Waitrose to joining Barnsley’s hunt to reach the Championship has given him extra mental strength.

The 23-year-old winger joined the Reds on Friday after signing a deal until 2021 with the club having an option to keep him for an extra season. He moved for an undisclosed fee from Yeovil Town to complete a remarkable turnaround in his life.

After being released by Fulham aged 16, he spent two years playing for a college team then dropped out of football for a year before impressing with non-league Banbury, driving several hours from South London to Oxfordshire between Waitrose shifts.

He earned a move to Premier League Bournemouth in 2015 but never played then joined Yeovil in 2017 and scored eight goals in 68 games including four in 19 this season for the League Two club. Green said: “It’s all just character-building. I think football is more mental than physical and it’s all helped me.

“You always have to keep the possibility of making it in your mind. When I was working at Waitrose, I didn’t know what was going to happen, but I did think something good was going to happen.

“All my life, all I have thought about is being a footballer. Whare I am from, there are not many options, so you have to make it.”

Green was an unused substitute in Barnsley’s 4-1 win at AFC Wimbledon on Saturday. He was impressed by the promotion-chasing Reds, saying: “I was on the bench thinking ‘wow, what a difference to what I am used to’.

“I love it here and I have been telling everyone around me I can’t believe how everything has turned out for me.

“It’s been an eye-opener. The amount of staff there are and the attention to detail is amazing.“I just want to help the team get promoted, hopefully that is automatic. It’s a good group of players and we have a very good chance.”

One of Green’s main attributes is pace and head coach Daniel Stendel says he is now the fastest player at Oakwell. The winger said: “Pace is such a big thing in football and so hard to deal with, hopefully I can use it correctly. Ever since I started playing as a kid, I have always been the guy running around fast and everyone is trying to kick me.”