Back in 1997, during his time at Wimbledon, Jon Goodman earned four caps for the Republic of Ireland.
Seventeen years on, the 43-year-old is the academy manager at the Nike Academy which is running a competition for 16 - 19 year olds as a part of a search for undiscovered Irish talent.
Goodman joined us on the line to tell us more about the Academy and how talent is scouted.
"What we find with pro clubs in the UK is that teams very often get their quotas of players at a very young age. Once players are in the system, probably the pro clubs who have a responsibility and duty of care will keep working with these players for a longer period of time. So it tends to mean players outside that system really struggle to find a way in or break through," said Goodman.
Win a coveted place on the Nike Football Academy, and a trip to see a Premier League match! Click here for more: http://t.co/h2yEwtbBsT
— Newstalk 106-108fm (@NewstalkFM) July 30, 2014
He explained that late developers and those who have gone through futsal have been among the players who have made it into their academy.
"We don't have a pre-defined template, as in a player that is quick or technically really, really strong, because he would already be in the system," said Goodman, who says that a player must have at least one strong attribute, before polishing the rest of the player's overall game.
Over 30 per cent of players who have trained with the Nike Academy have gone on to secure professional contracts and Goodman believes that "success should be a self-fulfilling prophecy" for the academy as better players take an interest and clubs take a closer look.
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
