17-year-old left forward Daniel Emmanuel attended our one-day trial in Essex and was scouted by Sevenoaks Town F.C.

We caught up with Daniel to get a better understanding of his footballing background, why he chose to attend our event and what has happened since being scouted.

First of all Daniel, congratulations on your brilliant trial with UK Football Trials and being scouted by Sevenoaks! You are obviously a talented player, could you please tell us a little bit about your football history?

“I’ve played football for as long as I can remember. My “career” started when I was in primary school - playing for the school team.”

“When I entered secondary school I again played for the school team, the town’s district team, as well as on the weekend with Glebe. I also played for the now folded Total Football Development Centre, where I was taught so much about the game.”

Wow you clearly have a lot of experience playing for local teams, what was it about our event that made you decide to attend?

“I guess I didn’t get the opportunity to go to the next level because no one saw me and thought, “he’s at the level, I should bring him in.” I did play a few showcase games where I could have got something, though.”

“Physically, I was a bit of a late bloomer too, but I worked and continued to work hard to improve myself and give myself every chance to progress. In South London you always hear about people getting opportunities at clubs but everyone’s journey is different. I’d seen UKFT on Instagram a lot but it was actually my parents who asked me if I wanted to go. I think they found out from a family friend.”

So after being scouted from our event, can you talk us through what’s happened with Sevenoaks?

“Darren invited me in for training and I’ve really enjoyed it so far, the tempo is fast and the coaches give us game-related scenarios to work on.”

“I played my first game against Sutton reserves last week, coming off the bench in the second half and was happy with how I played. I just can’t wait play more games!”

“I signed with the team the after my first week of training. Darren was happy with what he saw at the trial and in training to sign me, which was encouraging.”

That’s fantastic Daniel! As someone who has gone from playing grassroots football to signing for a club through our trials, do you have any advice for other players like yourself?

“First of all, talent isn’t enough - you need to work hard. Ignorance isn’t an excuse, information is out there - Instagram, studies on google - you just need to do the research. Find out how to become better and go out and train.”

“Take advantage of connections - they’re so important in football today, so if you know someone who knows someone who’s a scout/agent, reach out to them.”

“If you don’t currently have any connections, would like to make more or simply want to improve as a player, I would definitely recommend attending a UK Football Trials Event. The numbers are always great in terms of scouts in attendance, so if you’re confident, come and give it go.”

Everyone at UK Football Trials would like to firstly congratulate you Daniel on a great trial with us, and being scouted and going on to sign for Sevenoaks! We would also like to wish you the best of luck going forward and hope you can break into the first team in the future.