Maidstone based football academy, Soccer Elite FA, are hoping their links with Barcelona will see talented European players come to Kent.

Having forged a partnership with the European giants, Soccer Elite have had coaches go out to Spain to see if they can pick up talented teenagers for their scholarship, with Stuart Bell explaining to KSN how the few days he’d spent out there were positive:

“It went very, very well and was great to work with the Barcelona coaches and their associates from Espanyol and Villareal.”

“To see how they develop their players and what they’re looking for in terms of technique and how we develop our players, combining the two created a good proposition over the two days that we were out there.”

“We’ve got a few issues with some of the clubs out there and I can understand why as the players are signed to these clubs and regrettably their registrations were retained until the end of the season, but we will go back out there in June and they will be free agents.”

“They’ve already got 115 players registered to come back then so hopefully we will get a better outcome.”

“Everyone is always looking at where the next opportunity is, so June is a good time for them and it’ll be a good time for our guys to go out there and train with these players.”

“It’ll give our guys a great benchmark to see the level of ability that exists over in Europe and gauge how far they have come.”

Last week saw Soccer Elite take a squad of sixteen to take on the Welsh Under 18 side in Newport and despite losing the game 4-0, Bell believes there was plenty to take from the game:

“They were a year older, a year stronger and fitter. Technically there was no difference and the Welsh coaches praised us on how well we played.”

“What was different though was their mentality, their strength and their quickness around the field. For our guys, it was a great learning experience and some rose to the occasion and others will learn from it.”

“We’ll now take that onto the training pitch and develop them for the next set of games with our Under 16’s and Under 17’s to go up against the Welsh national sides.”

“In terms of Soccer Elite and Kent football, it’s a great accolade for what we’ve done so far.”

Having impressed against Wales, fixtures with two Premier League sides have now been confirmed with the Soccer Elite coach happy to see some of the junior members of the squad given chances to play at some great venues:

“The Liverpool and Reading fixtures are at the other end of the spectrum and are for our Under 7’s and 8’s. It epitomises the level of ability we have at Soccer Elite, so to take the Under 7’s to the famous Melwood training ground and Anfield, they’re beside themselves with excitement and I think some of the Soccer Elite coaches are too!”

This week has seen Soccer Elite undertake some trials with a view to unearthing new talent and Bell believes it’s a great time for him and his fellow coaches to find that next great youngster:

“We’re heavily recruiting for our next set of scholars. We’ve got three squads currently and are looking at another five squads for next season.”

“Trials have started this week and from that we will start to filter down the players we want for our squads.”

“I think there is so much talent in Kent and once you market and advertise what you’re there to do, which in our case is purely player development then the gold nuggets suddenly appear.”

“Our job is to polish those gold nuggets as best as we possibly can. There’s always one or two that surprise you when they turn up and it gives you great satisfaction when you see them develop and progress into the players we know they can be,”

Meanwhile, Soccer Elite are continuing to find their coaching App is attracting a lot of interest globally with clubs from all around the world keen on using the tools it includes:

“The My Soccer Coach App is still going really well over in Europe and within the UK. We have now been approached by clubs and coaches in America and Asia with a company called Grass Roots Coaching, who have a great name in the game, keen on the My Soccer Coach App and use it within their overall proposition.” said Bell.

“The coaches in America will have coaching plans and use something called digilog impressions about what all the sessions are all about.”

“Fundamentally, it will go out to countries that haven’t got the levels of coaching we have and help them develop their players.”

To find out more about Soccer Elite FA, visit www.soccerelitefa.com