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It's no secret that footballers have to live by a strict set of rules during their time as professionals, with clubs often imposing fines and punishments for any unwarranted misdemeanours. The specifics vary from club to club, with tardiness, forgetting kit or bad behaviour receiving pushback.

But for one unassuming Manchester United prodigy, they were left bemused when the club issued a fine for him getting a tattoo. DJ Buffonge was on the books at the North West-based outfit for four years and trained under the likes of Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer during his spell with the club.

However, he was forced to pay a fine after getting a tattoo on his chest shortly after turning 18. Speaking in an interview with , Buffonge explained: "At that time, there was a rule that no youth-team players were allowed to get any tattoos. I had abided by the rules until I was 18, where I'm legally allowed to get a tattoo. And I felt like getting one on my chest. It says, 'I was put on this earth to achieve my greatest self, to live out my purpose and to do it courageously.' And that meant a lot to me."

Revealing he was docked a week's wage for the move, he added: "It was for me to look at myself in the mirror on game day. Even when I'm short-sleeved, no one can see it. But I got in trouble for that. Now in the youth team at United, everyone has their tattoos, expressing themselves with their art."

Buffonge is now 26 years old and on the lookout for a club, but he revealed run-ins with club officials were a regular occurrence during his time at the club. Recalling an incident where he was frozen out of the side, he said: "The third game of that season was against Southampton away. Angel (Gomes) got given the role to take penalties, but in this game I won a penalty and in the heat of the moment, I wanted to take the penalty. Angel was cool with it. I scored, but I got a b****cking from the coach, which was fair enough. Next game, I was in the stands.

"I went to speak to him (Ricky Sbragia, the youth team boss) and was like, 'Is it because I scored that penalty?'. He was like, 'No, honestly, it's come from above (within the club).' So I'm thinking, 'How do I progress from this situation?'. That was the moment I started feeling some decisions weren't even about football anymore - it felt political. No one could tell me directly what the issue was."

It comes after, according to Buffonge, a previous youth team coach, had claimed he wouldn't ever make it into the first team unless he 'cut his hair'. Explaining the interaction, Buffonge said: "Warren Joyce would make comments like, 'I'm gonna tell Mourinho United's first-team manager at the time) you're not gonna make your debut with him until you cut your hair.' I was just thinking, 'I don't understand. They're joking around, but I really want to play. I don't see the correlation between my hair and me playing." Joyce told The Athletic he didn't recall making the comment.