Nick reaching for the stars

HANDFUL for defenders... Nick Blackman tangles with Swindon’s Sean Morrison.

NICK BLACKMAN, Athletic's on-loan striker, is already contemplating a career at international level.

The 19-year-old, who has been borrowed from Blackburn Rovers until at least January, could one day face a tug-of-war for his services.

Blackman, who opened his scoring account for Athletic with a spectacular goal at Brentford on Saturday, has revealed he is eligible to play for four countries - Barbados, Holland, Poland and England.

"My grandmother was born in Holland, I have a grandfather from Poland, my dad is from Barbados and my mother is from England," he revealed.

Blackman, however, says he has no particular preference. His ambitions are to play in the Premier League and international football.

And he is viewing his move to Boundary Park as an important part of his football education towards achieving those goals.

He said: "It is all part of the learning curve which, hopefully, one day will see me playing in the Premier League for Blackburn.

"You would be a fool if you did not learn from training with the likes of Roque Santa Cruz, Benni McCarthy and Jason Roberts.

"It has been great experience to play and train with those players.

“They also call you over at the end of training to do extra finishing and they will sit down and talk to you when you are eating your lunch and give you tips.

"I try to take parts of their game on board and put them into my game. Then I try to put that into match situations to make myself a better player."

Blackman admits it is important at this stage of his career to get experience of league football.

He explained: "It is far different to reserve-team football. You only have to look at the fans here (at Boundary Park) to see how passionate they are.

"You notice how different it is when clubs need three points and people's jobs are on the line."

Blackman, who was born in Salford and lives in Whitefield, has had an interesting background for somebody so young.

He was at Manchester United between the ages of eight and 13, playing in the Academy sides alongside the likes of Danny Welbeck and Fabien Brandy.

He later had spells at Preston North End and Bury before becoming an apprentice at Macclesfield Town.

Blackman admitted it was a case of one last chance with the Silkmen.

He said: "I had a few problems at school and needed to get away to concentrate fully on my football.

"Basically it was last chance at Macclesfield but, fortunately, it worked out for me."

Macclesfield stalwart John Askey, who was the youth team manager at Moss Rose, took Blackman under his wing and, along with manager Paul Ince, proved to be a massive influence on Blackman’s career.

Ince handed Blackman his debut for Macclesfield and later took him to Blackburn, initially on trial.

Although Ince subsequently left Ewood Park, his successor Sam Allardyce handed Blackman a contract.

Towards the end of last season, Blackman had a loan spell at Blackpool, scoring for the Seasiders at Sheffield United in the Coca-Cola Championship.