After rubbing shoulders with England’s brightest talents as a teenager, Aiden Marsh is hoping Raith Rovers can now bring out the best in him.
The striker, now 21, joined on loan from Barnsley earlier this month and arrived north with an impressive pedigree.
Singled out as one to watch as a youngster, Marsh rose through the ranks quickly with his boyhood heroes.
That earned him a call-up from his country for an U/17s training camp, alongside the likes of Bayern Munich’s Jamal Musiala, Chelsea defender Levi Colvill and then Barcelona kid Louie Barry.
After a top-team debut with Barnsley in the Championship at just 18, the marksman’s rising career has since stalled in recent times.
But he is determined to make the most of his switch to Stark’s Park.
“I’m from Barnsley, I’ve been a season ticket holder since I could walk, really,” explained the Yorkshireman ahead of the rearranged clash with Hamilton Accies.
“Then, I joined the academy at ten, 11 years old, and I’ve come all the way through.
“I made my under-18s debut at 14, under-23s debut at 15. Then my first-team debut in the Championship at 18.
Marsh: ‘My next step’
“So, I progressed really quickly and I was flying through the age groups. But I’ve been in and out of squads and playing here and there in the last couple of years.
“I’ve never really sort of nailed down a starting position at Barnsley.
“So, coming here was my next step in hopefully getting a lot of minutes under my belt and just enjoying my football, really.”
Marsh ran himself to a standstill – and some painful cramp – in the Scottish Cup victory over Falkirk, and turned in another energetic hour in Saturday’s 2-0 league defeat against the Bairns.
It is proof he is willing to put in the hard yards and admits he will always be spurred on by his brief taste of elite football in 2019.
“It was a really good experience,” he said of his England youth call-up. “I trained with them for a week at a camp.
“There were the likes of Jamal Musiala, who’s now playing for Germany, and Levi Colwill, who’s starting in Premier League for Chelsea.
“Louie Barry, who was at Barcelona at the time and is now at Aston Villa, was another one.
“There are quite a few who are big-name players now and making a really good name for themselves.
“It was good for me to go up against them when I was younger. I could see the levels of what I’m wanting to achieve myself.”
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