Carlisle United manager John Ward has given teenager Connor Tinnion the chance to impress at the club's pre-season training camp in Scotland.
The 17-year-old left winger has trained with the senior squad for the first time after impressing for the club's reserves last season.
"Connor has got a good future ahead of him," Ward told BBC Radio Cumbria.
"It's the right time to start pushing him through and we think he will benefit from being around the seniors."
Tinnion left Cockermouth School last summer and was part of the Carlisle team which reached the quarter-finals of the FA Youth Cup last season.
"He's been training with the first-team squad and has done very well," Ward said.
"You certainly wouldn't think from seeing him that he was the youngest boy in there.
Basically we are saying if you do well, you will get your opportunity with the first-team
John Ward
"But it's possibly too early to say whether he will be involved in my first-team plans for next season."
Tinnion has joined former youth team colleagues Gary Madine and Dan Wordsworth at the training base near Glasgow.
Madine, 17, recently turned down a move to Newcastle United to sign a three-year deal with Carlisle, while second-year YTS Dan Wordsworth has signed a one-year deal with the club.
"We are sending out a message out to the youth boys," Ward said.
"Basically we are saying if you do well, you will get your opportunity with the first-team."
Bookmark with:
What are these?