SEVENTEEN-year-old Dominic Matchem from Harrowbarrow is among ten young men hoping to become the nation's next football star, after being chosen from 7,000 people in trails up and down the country.

Dominic is appearing as one of the ten finalists in Sky 1's 'Football's Next Star' which will be showcasing the skills of the players as they spend five weeks at the home of Italian Champions Inter Milan as they battle to win a season's contract with the club.

Footballer Jamie Redknapp will mentor the boys throughout their journey and Milan's team of coaches will be joined by head coach, Jose Mourinho, in making the ultimate decision and selecting football's next star. The programme will be shown at 8pm for the next six weeks.

Although Dominic, who spent seven years at Plymouth Argyle playing for the youth teams, is sworn to secrecy about what happens on the show he said the whole experience had been amazing.

'It's always been my dream to become a professional footballer,' he said.

'This has been a once in a lifetime opportunity. To train with one of the biggest teams in Europe was brilliant and the whole thing has been like a shop window for the contestants.'

Dominic, an A level student at Plymouth College, has recently been on trails with Crystal Palace and locally has been playing for Tavistock Town's mens' team.