Hakan Hayrettin’s teenage son has been training at Maidstone.

Kaya, 15, who plays county football for Hertfordshire, wants to follow in his dad’s footsteps and become a professional footballer.

He’s been mixing it with United’s first-team squad after joining boss Hakan at the Gallagher in his free time.

“He comes in and trains with us,” said Hakan, whose career took in the likes of Barnet, Wycombe and Cambridge.

“He’s very dedicated, very focused and he loves coming in. He plays up top or out wide. The boys have accepted him and it mans him up a little bit.

“I don’t treat him any different to anyone else when he’s training.

"We had a game on Tuesday and he came on in the second half and didn’t look out of place. He’s a good kid.

“He’s only 15 - I think the players think he’s older.”

Hakan enjoyed a good career, winning the FA Trophy and promotion to the Football League with Wycombe under Martin O’Neill in the early 1990s.

But he also knows how tough the industry is and wants Kaya to stay switched on in his studies.

“Every young man at his age wants to be a professional footballer, don’t they?” said the Stones manager.

“My advice would be keep doing your studies alongside your football and then we’ll see.

“If you can do it, do it, live the dream. I’m not one of those parents who interferes when he’s playing.”

Maidstone are back in action after a weekend off with a home game against Dorking on Saturday.

United have lost their last two games, knocked out of the FA Cup by Dartford before surrendering their unbeaten National South record against Eastbourne.

“We haven’t become a bad team overnight,” said Hayrettin. “I’ve analysed those games and it’s just silly mistakes.

“I don’t think Dartford were better than us - for large periods we were the better team - and on another day against Eastbourne we’d have won by five but the ball wouldn’t go in.

“These lads have given us a lot of joy this season.

“The last two games haven’t gone as we wanted but we’re second in the league and spirits are high.

“We’ve just got to get back on the horse.

“Anyone who understands football knows that when teams come here they defend very deep and we have to break them down.

“If you analyse both games, Eastbourne didn’t come out of their own half and neither did Dartford. We got done on the counter-attack and we need to be mindful of that.

“I’m not making excuses, we accept everything with dignity and focus on what’s going on around us.”

Maidstone visit Dulwich Hamlet on Tuesday night.

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