Football’s Next Star was a television programme broadcast on Sky1 in the United Kingdom. The show aimed to find a young football player who could be the “next big thing” and reward them with a professional contract at Inter Milan in Italy.
Overall seven thousand boys applied for a chance to win the contract. Inter youth coaches Marco Monti and Paolo Migilavacca along with Jamie Redknapp attended the road shows and they crossed the Irish Sea in the hunt for players in Dublin where Redknapp believed there may be some hidden talent.
One of the players to impress was Dublin native and midfielder Craig Walsh. Craig was selected for the final forty along with eight other Irish players Connor Smith from Westmeath who finished as runner-up to the eventual winner Ben Greenhalgh.
After his 6-month professional contract at Inter Milan came to an end Ben Greenhalgh was released from their academy and signed for Non-League football clubs Welling United, before joining Maidstone United and Ebbsfleet United.
In June 2013 Greenhalgh made his Scottish Premiership debut in a 2–0 win at home to Heart of Midlothian on 31 August after transferring Inverness Caledonian Thistle
The most successful player of the series turned out to be Connor Smith who reached the heights of the Championship with Watford when he signed a professional contract with them in 2012. He currently plies his trade with Plymouth Argyle.