• Former Everton and Oldham midfielder was recently at Ossett Albion • George Green joins Burnley for rest of season after hat-trick in trial match

The former Everton midfielder George Green signed for Burnley on a short-term contract on Thursday only weeks after he feared his football career could be over.

Paid too much, too young, but George Green makes new start at Ossett | Ed Aarons Read more

In an interview with the Guardian in December, Green, who was signed from Bradford’s youth team by David Moyes aged 15 for a fee that was supposed to rise to £2m, revealed he suffered from depression and had considered killing himself after falling out of favour at Goodison Park.

Having voluntarily terminated his contract at Oldham in November, he was earning £75 a week playing for Ossett Albion in Division One of the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League when the agents Lee Payne and Dan Chapman of Full Contact got in touch after reading Green’s story.

“We saw your article and coincidentally Lee lives close to Ossett Albion,” Chapman said. “We both saw George play for Everton Under-21s against Arsenal a few years ago and were simply blown away with his talent, so once we became aware that he was at Ossett we investigated further.

“When we approached Burnley with the idea they knew instantly what George could be, if managed properly. Lee has spent a lot of time with him over last month preparing him for what was about to happen next, and his job was to deliver when the time came.”

Having spent a week on trial at Burnley’s Gawthorpe Hall training ground, Green was handed an opportunity to impress in a practice match against Loughborough University last week. He scored within 30 seconds and went on to record a hat-trick in a 5-1 win. “I’m absolutely buzzing,” Green said. “I went in there just to try my best – Lee told me to concentrate on my football without worrying about finances or anything. I loved it and had a really good week, ending with scoring the hat-trick so it couldn’t really have gone any better.”

Burnley’s manager, Sean Dyche, offered him a deal until the end of the season and Green, who turned 20 on 2 January, is looking forward to earning a place in the first-team squad. “It’s only until the end of the season to make sure my head is screwed on this time and that I don’t make any mistakes,” he said.

“I can totally understand that. I’m just happy to be back in the game – I’d have gone in for free if I’d had to. If I get my head down and work hard then I’m sure I will get my chance.

“I’m not going to mess it up this time. I’m ready to be a footballer now. Everyone knows my story now. I’m very grateful for the opportunity because I had nothing a few weeks ago. Now I’ve got to get my head down and put the work in.”