A proud grandad is having visions of his grandson Kayden Abnett playing for England after he signed for Charlton Athletic – aged just eight years old.

Last week parents Kelly and Shane put pen to paper for Kayden to start training with the Championship club’s under-nines squad next year.

The Medway youngster, who goes to Bredhurst Primary School, is a goalkeeper and has gone one better than Wayne Rooney, who was first spotted by Everton aged nine.

Rooney, of course, has gone on to play for Kayden’s favourite team, Manchester United.

He was spotted by the Players Football Academy youth coaching set-up during local matches and snapped up for the team.

It was the platform he needed to be spotted by Charlton while playing against young Brighton, Wolves and Swansea sides.

But he was the only one from his team to be signed by the south east London club in the latest round of scouting.

His grandad Chris Abnett, who also played some amateur football as a teenager, could not be happier.

The 57-year-old die-hard West Ham United fan said: “I don’t think he fully understands at his young age what this signing could lead to down the line.

“If he proves himself in the under-nines the next stage would be the Charlton Athletic FC Youth Academy, which nurtures players from nine all the way up to 16.

“At 18 he could be making that final sign on the dotted line for the adult team. That could be his career path, but he is only eight, a lot can happen. We don’t push him though, we don’t need to, he just loves to play.”

“He’s just got that natural flare for it, and you can’t teach that" - grandad Chris Abnett

The budding goalie, who was also sought by Gillingham FC, lives with his parents Kelly, who works for Kent Police, and Shane, an HGV driver, and younger brother in Mierscourt Road, Parkwood.

The whole family are rooting for him, and Chris is convinced he will succeed given his natural talent.

Chris, a project manager for a construction company, said: “The promise he has, I’d bet on him playing for England under-21s.

"At the moment I haven’t seen anybody else who can touch his abilities. In the fitness tests he out-sprinted all the other players, which is unheard of for a goalkeeper.

“He’s just got that natural flare for it, and you can’t teach that.”