A Midland footballer has become Britain's first Asian player to be valued at more than £1 million - thanks to his mum's 'healthy' curries. Birmingham-born Zesh Rehman, 21, is the only Asian to play regular Premiership football since making his debut as centre-half for Fulham FC against Liverpool last October. His emergence has led to hopes that the countrys thousands of amateur Asian footballers will follow his lead and also turn professional. Born and raised in Birmingham, Zesh started playing football on the streets like most Asian kids do before making appearances for his school, district and county teams. He was eventually signed by Fulham as a 13 year-old and spends most of his time in the capital, although he still has family in the Midlands. His parents Khalid and Farah, originally from Pakistan, have helped dispel the myth that Asian parents arent supportive of their sons taking up football as a career. Zesh, who has represented England at youth level, said: The stereotype of Asian players still exists. Not good enough, not strong enough and wrong diet. When I was younger my mum used to make a lot of curries and stuff like that. But I told her I needed to take in more carbohydrates. So she started making me curries without all the fat and oil. It helped a lot because I enjoy my curries and didnt want to miss out on them altogether. But his passion for football did occasionally get him into conflict at home. My parents were very supportive and they made sacrifices to help me buy all the gear and take me to matches, he said. They encouraged me to get an education but there was never anything like I had to become a doctor or whatever. I remember one time when they were not too pleased with me, though. Me and my friends used to sneak out to play football when we should have been at the mosque. My parents caught me and I got blasted. I laugh about it now but at the time it was no joke. They are quite religious but Im not 100 percent strict Muslim. Im unable to fast during Ramadan, for example, because I need to train and play - but I make up for it in other ways. Although other Asians have appeared in the Premiership, most notably Newcastles Michael Chopra, Zesh is the only one to regularly appear in the starting line up. People remind me that Im the first Asian to be making it in the Premiership but I dont really think about it as a big thing, he said. I think there are quite a lot of things that stop Asians making it in football. First is the fact that there is no role model - no-one to look up to and say Yeah it can happen. People presume we like cricket more. People judge you before they have even seen you play. Zesh also revealed how he had suffered racism while playing Sunday League football. But it was nothing too bad, he added. | 
