KIERAN FREEMAN has already had a brush with footballing fame and fortune.

The 14-year-old defender, who plays his youth-team football at Dundee United, has a regular invite to Manchester United training camps during his holidays, spending one session at Carrington in the exalted company of Brooklyn Beckham and his father David.

United - Dundee that is - would be due a development fee possibly stretching into six figures should both parties choose to make that a permanent arrangement on his 16th birthday, but for now the teenager has his sights set on making a name for himself in the Victory Shield, the annual competition between the home nations at Under-16 level.

Scotland won last year's edition outright for the first time in 15 years, with one of the star turns a United player. Winger Ali Coote shot to prominence with two goals against Northern Ireland, and Freeman is hoping to do likewise when the Scots take on the same opponents at St Mirren Park tonight.

"I remember watching it last year," said Freeman. "I watched the Northern Ireland game when Ali Coote scored twice. Because he's a left-sided midfielder I've played against him a lot in training and he still talks about it. He's been on the fringe of the first team this year, part of the development squad, and it shows what can happen if you do well in the Victory Shield.

"United will happily put youth players into the first team if you're good enough. We'll try our hardest to keep the shield and hopefully I'll get picked again to play next year."

In addition to his periodic trips to Lancashire, Freeman has had access to the best football upbringing available. Another graduate of Ian Cathro's coaching clinics, alongside the likes of Ryan Gauld, John Souttar and Craig Wighton, the 14-year-old is the only current attendee in the squad of an SFA performance school, commuting from the village of Inverbervie, near Stonehaven, to St John's Academy in Dundee each day. There he trains under the watchful eye of former Dundee United skipper, not to mention Northern Ireland internationalist, Iain Jenkins.

"I've come on a lot as a player since I started attending the Performance School at St John's," said Freeman. "I get up at 5am and get the train to school, go into the gym before school, then do my normal classes with a session over lunch. After school I train with United and head home for around 7pm. I try to get my homework done on the train. It's hard work but it will be worth it if I make it.

"I worked with Ian Cathro at Dundee United and he was going to be the Performance School coach until he left for Portugal," Freeman added. "He was different. His training paid off. It was all technical stuff and the way he looks at the game gives you a different perspective."