What we know about former Wolves academy player and St Mirren and Aldershot Town man on trial at Chesterfield

Clubs normally tend not to name who is on trial but that of course does not stop fans and journalists speculating who they are.

Chesterfield have had a number of trialists this summer with goalkeepers and defenders being the main positions looked at.

One player who we can now officially name is Jim Kellermann, 25, who featured in the second-half against Matlock Town last week and did enough to earn himself a place at the four-day training camp at Loughborough University.

And Spireites supporters got another good look at him in Tuesday night’s friendly win against Bradford City as he played 60 minutes after replacing Laurence Maguire, who went off with blurred vision, in the first-half.

Kellermann has predominantly played in central midfield in his career, but he has mainly been used as a right-sided centre-half so far in pre-season.

Interestingly, manager James Rowe named-dropped Kellermann, unprompted, in his post-match interview after the victory over the Bantams which could indicate he likes what he has seen.

So what do we know about him?

Kellermann played junior football with Kidderminster Lions and Stourport Swifts before joining the Wolves academy when he was 14.

After seven years at Molineux he was released and was snapped up by Aldershot Town, where Rowe was assistant manager to Gary Waddock at the time, after a successful trial.

Kellermann was part of Aldershot’s two successive runs to the National League play-offs and his form earned him a move to St Mirren in May 2018, who had just been promoted to the Scottish Premiership at the time.

St Mirren’s assistant manager at the time, James Fowler, described him as a ‘bit of an all-rounder’ and a ‘box-to-box midfielder who can score goals, can spot a pass and has good aggression’.

Unfortunately Kellermann's time at St Mirren never really worked out for him as he made just seven appearances for the club, with a loan spell at AFC Fylde in-between.

His contract at St Mirren was mutually terminated in October 2019, despite having several more months to run.

A move to Kidderminster Harriers followed in March 2020 but he was let go by them last month.

Following the decision to release him, Kellermann tweeted: “Disappointed with the decision. Difficult season to get games week in week out which I found frustrating. Wish all the best to the lads there going forward. We’ll see what happens next.”

Overall, he is a player Rowe knows well from his time at Aldershot, he has experience of playing in a successful team in the National League, he is a good age and perhaps has a point to prove and appears to be versatile which is exactly what you need at this level with a smaller squad.

Rowe might take one more look at him against Port Vale on Saturday if he has not already made his mind up, but you get the feeling he probably has.