THE dream for many young footballers is that one day they will be spotted by a talent scout and a professional club will come calling.

For 13-year-old Mitchell Palmer, of Wyesham, that is exactly what happened.

Mitchell was playing for Monmouth Lads' Club when a scout working for Cardiff City spotted his potential and the club made an official approach him.

As Mitchell was only seven at the time and playing with children a year older than him, he had to wait until his eighth birthday before he could join the club's academy.

Now, all set for his seventh season at Cardiff, Mitchell is enjoying his football and hopes to emulate players like Joe Ledley and Aaron Ramsey by eventually progressing into the first team and beyond – Ramsey now plays for Arsenal and Ledley moved to Celtic in the summer.

"It's tiring but I'm enjoying the experience," said Mitchell.

"We've played matches against teams like Chelsea and Liverpool at their training grounds and I got to meet Kenny Dalglish, who runs Liverpool's academy.

"We played Manchester United a few weeks ago. It was a good game and I scored but we lost the game 4 – 3.