FEARS that Darlington could lose three of their talented youngsters having been selected for a high profile trial associated to Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy have been quelled.

At the end of the season Josh Heaton, Luke Trotman and Joe Wheatley will spend a week at Manchester City’s Etihad Campus, training with the Jamie Vardy V9 Football Academy, which offers non-league players an opportunity to impress clubs from higher up the game.

Last summer the process was filmed by Sky for a documentary, with around 70 scouts in attendance.

Five players have since moved clubs, among them striker Dan Newton, who scored for Tamworth against Darlington last season, joining Stevenage in League Two.

But Alan White, Quakers’ assistant manager, pointed out: “They’re all contracted for next season, they’re all Darlington players.

“It’s great that they’re going down there as it shows that we’ve got lads who have got talent, it shows Darlington Football Club is doing alright.

“It can only be good for young players to experience it, to train with other lads, get good coaching and a view of what it’s like at a big club.

“But does it mean we’re going to lose them? No it doesn’t. If someone takes an interest in them it’s no different to another club seeing them play for us and then making an offer.

“If they impress and people saw them it wouldn’t be any different to if they were spotted playing for us.

“It’s not as though we’re obligated to sign off the players to the Jamie Vardy academy, they’re going down there for a week, try to show what they’re about and then see what happens.”

White was last season with Spennymoor Town, with three of their players - Ryan Hall, Shane Henry and Glen Taylor - among those chosen to take part in the Sky show.

White added: “The Jamie Vardy thing has happened for a couple of years now and at Spenny we had three lads that went on it.

“It didn’t affect them at all other than they went down there, had a great experience, a boost for their confidence and they had a week of seeing how things are at a professional set-up.

“They have a look at the young players in non-league, they need to be playing regularly, that’s important, and it’s up to the lads whether they want to go or not.”

Darlington are at Brackley on Saturday, when they will be without the suspended Stephen Thompson, but James Caton is unlikely to have recovered in time from a hamstring strain sustained a fortnight ago.