World Cup winner and Clarets legend's grandson set for trials with Europa League champions Chelsea

Jake Connelly, 17, had been pencilled in to play for the Blues Academy in Surrey last week, but an injury sustained during the Roma Caput Mundi tournament in Italy ruled him out.

Ed Brand’s side, currently joint top of the Professional Under-18 Development League alongside Fulham, hosted Millwall in the FA Youth Cup and will resume their title charge at home to fourth place Leicester City on March 14th.

Scouts had an eye on the Clitheroe FC teenager as he represented the England Colleges national team against the Independent Schools FA at St George’s Park in December.

And, following talks with Phil Brown, they also paid a visit to Shawbridge. “I was supposed to be going to Chelsea on trial until I picked up an injury,” said Connelly.

“They had scouts watching one of the England Colleges games and they got in touch with Phil Brown. They ended up coming to watch a couple of Clitheroe games as well.

“I had been scheduled to play in an Under 18s game at the Cobham Training Centre so hopefully that will be rearranged.

“I’m looking forward to it and hopefully I can do something when I’m down there. It’s hopefully the start of something exciting for me.”

Connelly’s famous grandad - who played alongside Nobby Stiles, Jack Charlton, Bobby Moore, Jimmy Greaves, Bobby Charlton and other greats in a goalless draw against Uruguay at Wembley in the group stages - helped the Three Lions lift the Jules Rimet Trophy for the only time in their history in 1966.

The left winger, who has lived in Grindleton since moving away from Barrowford, followed in his footsteps when pulling on the Three Lions last month.

Connelly received the man of the match accolade as England Colleges went down to Moldova in Rome having already lost to the hosts.

Data compiled from his PlayerTek vest confirmed that he had covered the most distance on the pitch, was involved in the most ‘Power Plays’ and had registered the quickest speed.

He said: “It was a great experience. I didn’t start the first game [the Italian National Amateur League], but I got 90 minutes and man of the match against Moldova in the second game.

“I covered the most ground and registered the quickest speed as well. I didn’t see the PlayerTek stats until the next day, but the manager (Darin Killpatrick) had spoken to me about them.

“One of the coaches, Chris Todd, ended up showing me the GPS stats and used them in comparison to his winger (Jake Andrews) at Torquay United.

“There wasn’t too much of a difference, which was good to see. That gave me a lot of confidence and gave me an idea of where I need to be to get to that level.”

The teenager, who faces two to three weeks on the sidelines having damaged ligaments in his ankle, has been one of the stand out performers in the Blues’ charge up the BetVictor NPL North West Division.

He joined the Ribble Valley outfit in the summer having helped Fulwood Amateurs win the West Lancashire League Premier Division the season before.

And he feels the move up to men’s football has aided his development. “Before you start playing men’s football you don’t realise how much of a difference your work rate off the ball makes.

“But you don’t have the ball at your feet for long during games so you need to be able to have an impact when out of possession.

“I’ve come along a lot since being at Clitheroe and being among more experienced players.

“They’ve helped me out and given me an understanding of what I can do in specific areas to make things easier.

“I was playing against my own age group in Italy, but it was a different kind of football.

“We were behind in all our games so it was about finding a way to affect the game when you aren’t winning.

“The physicality of the men’s game helped me a lot in the tournament because I was able to put myself about a bit more and some of the teams weren’t expecting that.

“I’m used to doing that now and it’s becoming more natural.”