“One of the best young Goalkeepers I’ve ever seen” were the words used to describe Ivor Williams after he came to our Goalkeeper Trial in Essex this February.

Ivor, who is just 10-years-old, started his trial with West Ham United today, but the young ‘keeper also has interest from Arsenal and Manchester City.

His Goalkeeper coach on the day was former Premiership Goalkeeper and Portsmouth Assistant Manager Anthony Williams, who was so impressed with Ivor that he immediately contacted the two Premier League giants to inform them of his potential.

Anthony said: “Ivor is an exceptional talent for a 10-year-old and hopefully he will have a promising career in the game.

“Technically he’s one of the best young Goalkeeper’s I’ve ever seen.”

City have already contacted Ivor’s family and expressed a desire to invite him to their training ground, while Arsenal’s Head of Academy Recruitment has also requested his details.

Meanwhile, West ham have wasted no time in trying to secure one of the country’s hottest prospects after a scout saw him at our trial, and he began training with the club today (Monday 27th February).

However this wont be Ivor’s first taste of life at a pro club – he spent six weeks with Chelsea in pre-season and has also been training and playing with Crystal Palace and Tottenham for the last few months, including games against QPR, Watford, Chelsea and prospective new club, West Ham.

Despite the whirlwind of the last few months, incredibly, Ivor has only been playing football for one year after he went in goal for a training session with his older brother’s team.

Dad, Ben, explained: “He wasn’t interested in football at all when he was younger, we’re all football mad as a family but we just let him get on with it and he wasn’t really bothered.

“Then last year he went along to training with his older brother and they put him in goal because he was the youngest and it seems he just has a natural talent for it.”

We will stay in contact with Ivor and his family and bring you news on his progress as and when we receive it – this could be a name to remember!