From the tender age of just 8-years-old talented attacking style player Elliott has been no stranger to academy football. Now 12-years-old Elliott has experienced academy football both at New Saints Academy in Wales and following this at Crewe Alexandra. Elliott is very serious about his football development always wanting to learn to improve himself and always setting himself very high standards when it comes to his personal goals.

Elliott is also no stranger when it comes to attending UK Football Trial events which he has attended 3 times and each time with a clear plan of what Elliott wanted to achieve. The first time Elliott attended was purely to see what the one-day trial format was like, with a view to giving him the experience of a one-day training session and assessment. The second time was with a view to assess his progress and see which clubs would be interested in him. He was scouted by 3 pro clubs, who offered him trials which led to him later being scouted by 3 more pro teams. The third time was the latest trial in May 2024 when Elliott caught the eye of a Manchester United scout which so happens to be the team Elliott supports.

We asked Elliott’s dad Gareth what happened next after receiving the fantastic news of Elliott being scouted by Manchester Utd. Gareth had this to say in response…” We received a message from the scout who scouted Elliott who congratulated him on his trial performance. He mentioned that we would be contacted by the regional scout for our area and that it could lead to an invitation to the Emerging Talent setup. The regional scout contacted us and asked to be kept informed of Elliott's fixtures so they could continue to watch him.”

Moving on to Elliott’s 1-day trial experience at UK Football Trials we asked Elliott if the level and ability of other players at his trial was what he expected? Elliott commented with…”Yes, the level is what I expected from the trial. It is always good to see the level of players aspiring to join the Academy system. As an academy player this also allows me to see the level of progress I have achieved.”

Following Elliott’s trial experience, we asked the family how they came to hear about UK Football Trials and would they recommend a trial event to other aspiring young footballers. The family commented that they had seen UK Football Trials advertised on the internet and with the plan they had in mind it would be the perfect opportunity for Elliott to be seen by multiple club scouts. They then added that…”As the adverts suggests, players do really get to play in front of many scouts from clubs at all levels and get to experience a training session with highly experienced coaches. This can be good just as an experience, it can be good to challenge yourself as a player and obviously to potentially get scouted. It suits players of all levels, from grassroots all the way to players with previous CAT1 experience. However, it is important to be realistic as the scouts are professional scouts and they will objectively assess players. Understand that you may need to attend multiple trial dates before being scouted and even if you are not scouted, you will be offered very valuable feedback by the coaches, organizers and sometimes the scouts themselves.”

What happens next for Elliott? Manchester United have asked to be kept informed of all Elliott’s fixtures so they can continue to monitor Elliott. The communication with Manchester United has been very positive and professional and Elliott is dedicated enough to hopefully be invited into the emerging talent centre very soon.

All the staff here at UK Football Trials would like to extend our congratulations to Elliott on a wonderful start to a football journey and we will keep in touch regarding his next move(s) which we are sure will be exciting for such a talented young man.

Elliott Jones Recio – Aged 12 – Scouted by Manchester United