His hero is John Terry, and his family are Chelsea fans but a 16-year-old from Kingston has turned down a permanent move to Arsenal for humble Leicester Football Club.

Joe Jones rose up through youth football ranks playing for Kingstonian, Wangas in Tolworth and Sutton United.

He also captained Surrey and has been capped at U15-level for Northern Ireland, through his dad, and was unsuccessful after trials at Chelsea’s Cobham training ground.

But the Grey Court schoolboy said his dream was still to play for England at centre back and leaving Arsenal, where he has been playing, was the best route there.

He said: “I had a big decision to make but I felt I would get more opportunities at Leicester.”

Asked what it might be like to play against John Terry, who he has met once, he said: “That would be quite funny really, playing against the person you admire most.”

If he does make it, his father Dave and mother Claire, who have driven him to Arsenal’s east London training ground four times a week, will be in the crowd cheering him on.

Mrs Jones said: “It’s been quite stressful this Arsenal Leicester decision from him, and all of us, but we felt he had to make the decision. Every boy wants to leave school and play football.”