A SCHOOLGIRL footballing ace hopes to follow in the footsteps of Furness's England aces at Blackburn Rovers.

Kira Boswell has become the latest talented youngster from South Cumbria to be snapped up by the Lancashire club.

The 13-year-old Walney School pupil is treading the same path as England Under-17s players Georgia Stanway and Kelsey Pearson and under-16s international Aimee Everett by moving to Blackburn.

Signed on by Rovers for their under-14s team after impressing at a four-week trial, the Barrow Celtic product – who was part of the Barrow AFC Girls Performance Centre – hopes she can be another Furness girl to earn an international call-up.

“I've wanted to be part of a team like Blackburn for a long time,” said Kira, who started playing with Celtic under club stalwart Dennis Boyd when she was eight. “I'm hoping I can become a better player while I'm here and in the future become like someone like Georgia Stanway.

“You see what she has done and it shows that it's possible what you can do. In the future I'd like to play for England as well.”

Dad John, who admits to having had 'a stupid grin' on his face when the Blackburn staff told him she had been successful at the trials from among 80 potential players, knows that people like Stanway and Everett inspire his daughter.

He said: “Sometimes she travels down with Aimee Everett, who is in the England Under-16s squad. She talks to her a lot, and that's quite good. She sees her and that's what she wants to do.

“She watches Georgia a lot as well. She watched the England games she played in at the World Cup.

“It's brilliant to be at a club that has helped produce players like that. It's a great opportunity for them all there now to follow.”

The versatile winger, who can play on the right or left of midfield has already featured for Blackburn against the likes of Sunderland, Manchester United and Derby County.

Kira admits the step up from playing for Barrow Celtic and Barrow AFC has been a big one, but it is a challenge she is relishing.

“It feels good to have been signed up,” the Manchester United-supporting youngster said. “It has been a lot more challenging, but in a good way.

“All the girls are just as good as you are, so it makes it a lot harder.

“The games have been good. The matches are a lot harder than what I had been used to, but I still enjoy it.

“I like to attack and run with the ball. I just enjoy the game. I like to take players on and I like the feeling when you score goals and win games.”

Tony Callister, head of the Performance Centre at Barrow AFC, is thrilled Kira has been given the chance to make the move up the ladder.

The Barrow coaches had picked her out as a big talent, and he said: “Here at the Performance Centre we're really pleased that Kira has been given an opportunity to further her junior career at Blackburn.

“Tasha Pearson, the coach of the under-14s alongside Rebeccah Smith, has been very complimentary on Kira's progress within the centre and we wish her all the very best on her footballing journey.

“The centre is continuing to be a hotbed of talent for both boys and girls, with a number of players moving on to clubs higher up the leagues.”

Kira has come a long way since her dad noticed an advertisement for players at Barrow Celtic in the Evening Mail's Junior Sport section.

It was there that Boyd – who both Kira and John thanked for all his coaching and help down the years – took her into the team.

“I went down for a few training sessions and I stayed playing for them,” Kira said.

“I was already a United fan, and I always liked watching them with my granddad. It was different taking part, but I did like it.”

Now she is training for six hours a week in Blackburn, as well as playing in regular games.

John thinks she has fitted right in, and said: “Kira is very happy. It's what she wanted. We weren't too sure about taking her to the trials, but she bugged us, she went and she got in.

“She watches videos of players a lot of the time, and she would rather go and play football than do anything else. She will miss parties because she would rather play football.

“She loves it at Blackburn. She loves the training and we have been to quite a few places watching her now. It's a higher level of football now, but I don't think she looks out of place.”