Cooper, 16, first attended our events in Melbourne in 2017 and returned again earlier this year with hopes of getting scouted by a team in England.

An impressive performance in Australia led scouts to call him back to the UK for more trials in June and he has just completed four weeks of training with two semi-pro clubs here.

Jeff, Cooper’s dad, explained: “In 2017 we saw the UK Football Trials website and came to the event in Melbourne where he got some good feedback from the scouts, but no concrete interest.

“He went away and worked on the points the scouts advised and then came back again in 2018, which was when he was scouted.

“We got an email about three weeks after the trial asking us to come to the UK.”

Jeff added: “So we came here in June and stayed for a month while Cooper’s been playing in a few games and training with a couple of clubs.”

Altrincham FC and St Helens Town, both semi-pro clubs, gave Cooper the opportunity to train with their academies as well as play in friendly games while they prepared for pre-season.

“With Altrincham he played in a mixed squad game with the u17’s and u18’s, while St Helens had him training with the u21’s and they want to stay in touch,” said Jeff.

“It’s all been a bit overwhelming in some ways – we didn’t think it would go as well as it has and we can’t thank UK Football Trials enough. It’s something he’s always wanted to do.

“This has been a really positive trip for us and we’re even thinking about coming here long term so Cooper can study here.”

Back home in Australia Cooper plays in the NPL – the highest youth league in Australia – so his immediate focus will be to move into the first team there and try to get near the A-League.