Everton Football Club took Tom Mackenzie on trial after he impressed scouts at our event this October.

Sam, Tom’s mum, revealed how the opportunity arose and what her son made of the experience.

Congratulations, Tom did well at our trial and got scouted! What happened next?

UK Football Trials initially told us that Everton had asked for his details and soon after we got a text from the scout who was there on the day. They asked for some fixtures and said they would like to watch him play again, but you don’t always know if someone does come. Then we had an email inviting him to Finch Farm to train with about 15 other boys.

Playing at a Premier League training ground, what an experience…

Yeah it was a lovely set up! We feel privileged to have done that and what an amazing opportunity for him. It was a bit surreal for him; you know he was playing at the same ground that Wayne Rooney was just four hours before. But ee coped well and showed a level of maturity and I think he thoroughly enjoyed it.

What did the trial consist of?

We went down on a Monday night to train with the u13’s for about two hours and he thoroughly enjoyed it. They did a few drills to start, the coaches eased him into it and just let them play really. He scored in the practice game.

Was this Tom’s first time in this type of environment?

Of that level, absolutely. He has been at Altrincham Town since he was four-years-old and for the last eighteen months he’s been playing a age group up, but he’s never been involved with a Premier League club. There was some interest about four or five years ago from Burnley but we felt he was too young at the time.

How often does Tom train and play football?

He’s always kicking a ball against my wall; he watches it and plays it all the time, so most days he does something really.

What are his main strengths?

Tom in unselfish in his play, he sees a pass and is good with his feet.

And what’s the next step from here?

Well he’s just been so excited by the whole process; it’s been fantastic so far. Unfortunately, Tom hasn’t been asked back to Everton. We had a lovely letter from them explaining that they’re going to continue to monitor him at his team and school. So we’ve booked him on to come back to the next UK Football Trials event in Manchester this December.

The scout who spotted Tom at our last trial set said: “I liked what I saw of him at UK Football Trials and when I checked, we already had his name on our system, so he was one we were looking at for a while. We were glad to be able to get him in for a closer look and it was good experience for him to train with the boys at our academy.