London (PTI): A young footballer from Goa will begin the first Gary Linekar Football Scholarship on Thursday.

15-year-old Lesten Martins will travel to the United Kingdom to train with Leicester City and sample the life of a professional footballer in this country.

The scholarship, sponsored by Air India, is part of the Leicester India Football Link, an initiative to forge links between Leicester and India by Milan Mandaric, Chairman of Leicester City Football Club, the British High Commissioner to India Sir Richard Stagg and Keith Vaz, MP for Leicester East.

It follows a hugely successful tour to Goa in October last year by a group of Under 14 footballers from Leicester.

During the tour, Lesten was identified by coaches that accompanied the touring party as possessing great ability, and they chose him to receive this once in a lifetime opportunity.

In addition to training with the club, Lesten will attend the Foxes final home game of the season against Scunthorpe and meet with Leicester City legend Gary Lineker, in whose name the scholarship is awarded.

Keith Vaz said, "It's wonderful to be able to welcome this talented young man to Leicester. The players from Leicester enjoyed a fantastic tour last year and I'm delighted that the link between the two communities can be further strengthened through Gary Linekar scholarship."

Lesten said, "I can't wait to get to England and train with Leicester City. I can't believe I'm going to train with a professional team."