At the age of 19, Mike Delaney entered the world of Professional football.

"I met ex- German International Hansi Mueller who told me that I had the technical ability to play at the highest level in football." - Mike Delaney

Mike reached his level in football training alongside one of Europe’s top strikers of the time- German centre forward Fredi Bobic, training for hours on sprints, crossing, passing, heading, finishing and building strength.

Ex England manager Kevin Keegan set up training periods in England at Premier league clubs to allow Mike the chance to train at home for a while before returning to his club in Germany. Mike enjoyed spells at German club Ludwigsburg and Schaffhausen in Switzerland before making a return home to England.

"To this day I still appreciate the chance that Hansi Mueller gave me in football. He introduced me to a great agent Juergen Schwab who helped me develop as a player and is still a good friend today. Hansi used to tell me that it was very rare for him to see a player with my level of skill on the pitch. This gave me lots of confidence especially knowing that Hansi had played in World cup finals and was even picked to play for the ‘Rest of the World’ team." - Mike Delaney

Mike has just recently been selected as a member of England's Futsal team. Futsal is a version of indoor 5-a-side football which is very popular in many of the technically gifted football countries such as Brazil, Spain and Portugal. Ronaldinho has only praise for the game which he says helped develop his football skills. After some months of trials at Lilleshall, England coach Graeme Dell has selected Mike as a member of his new look squad ready to compete in World cup qualifiers.