11-year-old striker Caden Woodland caught the eye of scouts from Accrington Stanley at our Manchester event in May and was subsequently offered a trial for the League One side.

Caden’s current footballing situation was explained to us by his father who told us: “Caden plays football at grassroots level on a Saturday and Sunday for Shoreside F.C, he plays mainly as a striker but can also play on both the left and right wing. He’s scored quite a few goals this season, he gets a good couple every year to be fair.”

He continued to also explain how he discovered UK Football Trials, saying: “I found your company by pure chance. I was talking to a friend who used to manage Caden, and he took his son who’s a goalkeeper down to one of your trials. He told me to take him along so I literally rang up and booked it then.

“I thought your event was really good, I was impressed by it all.” He added

After his trial with UK Football Trials, Accrington reached out to Caden. His dad told us: “We were contacted not long after your event by the head of recruitment at Accrington and he told us to bring him along for a trial.

He’s being kept on for another three weeks, then they are going to have a break for preseason and then they’re going to sit down and discuss where they go from there.” He explained.

When asked what the trial with Accrington consisted of, Caden’s dad told us: “At the trials, Caden trains with the academy players.

“They do allsorts of things, fitness, speed and agility drills, they play games to see what each player is like in a match environment. They do all the general stuff you would expect at an academy.”

“I think Caden has been absolutely brilliant whilst at Accrington. I would say he’s been standing out by far. He slotted right in from day one, he wasn’t shy or anything, he just got a ball at his feet and did what he does.”

“He isn’t finding difficult or been fazed at all. He’s embracing it. He’s wanted this for a long time, he has tried to be scouted in the past but never been noticed. He knows now he needs to step it up and keep performing.”

He continued to explain their experience with Accrington, saying: “The facilities are great, they train at a college on 3g pitches. The under 8’s, 9’s, 10’s and 11’s all train together two nights a week, the set up is really good and the coaching is brilliant too.”

With the end of Caden’s trial with Accrington coming to an end soon, we hope that he has made enough of an impression on them to be kept on and sign for the academy.