Fleetwood swoop for young non-league ace

Fleetwood Town have snapped up yet another non-league hot-shot as they secured the services of Nantwich Town midfielder Elliot Osborne.
Elliot OsborneElliot Osborne
Elliot Osborne

Just a day after the club’s former non-league goal machine Jamie Vardy scored in England’s 2-1 Euro 16 win over Wales the club has swooped for Evo-Stik Premier Division side Nantwich’s 22-goal central midfielder Osborne.

The 20-year-old ex-Port Vale youth player says Town and chairman Andy Pilley’s history of giving non-league players such as current first team duo Nick Haughton and Ash Hunter and Premier League winning Leicester City striker Vardy a chance is what helped lure him to Highbury.

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He said: “The likes of Jamie Vardy (have played for Fleetwood) and I’ve been in non-league and I’m looking to step back up the ladder and I could not think of anywhere else I would rather go.

“Towards the end of the season I became aware Fleetwood were interested.

“Their chief scout had been down and a couple of other clubs had been looking

but they were the first team to put their cards on the table and see we are very interested.

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“Speaking to the chairman (Andy Pilley) he says he is looking to get young up and coming players from non-league and potentially sell them on like he has done with Vardy already and you can see how well he has done.

“He is taking a gamble on non-league players which is the beauty of it really.”

The youngster says Town’s state of the art £8.5m Poolfoot Farm training complex also swayed his decision to move to the Fylde coast.

He said: “Poolfoot Farm is fantastic.

“For a League One club to have these sort of facilities is unbelievable - I don’t understand why anyone would not want to come here.”