HE'S 6ft 2ins tall, aged 12 and is being sought by one of the biggest football clubs in the world.

And he's Scottish.

Joshua Rae has been offered a youth contract with Atletico Madrid after he impressed a scout while scoring twice as a goalkeeper in a match while he was on holiday in Spain last month.

And the youngster, from Croy in North Lanarkshire, is already being compared to the La Liga club's number one goalkeeper, 21-year-old Belgian international Thibaut Courtois, who is on loan from English Premier League Chelsea.

Atletico have already approached Hamilton Academical about signing Joshua who plays with the SPFL Championship leaders' under-15s pro-youth side.

His father Robert, who has been in Madrid with his son for a visit to the Spanish giants, said: "I thought I was only going over with him for a two-week trial and that would be it. But it went a wee bit further than that. It's all a big buzz for us."

Joshua, a Celtic fan, whose early hero was Hoops keeper Artur Boruc, added: "It's amazing. It was really good out there. The training sessions were a different level from Scotland, just the quality of them."

The youngster was discovered in Benidorm, playing with in an Under-14s tournament with a team from Jordan he had been approached to join, while having a kick-around in a local park.

It was in the final against an Elite Madrid boys team that he raised eyebrows. The game finished 2-2 after 90 minutes and Joshua scored both goals.

"The Jordan team were pretty bad, so he had a lot of work to do and he looked good," said Mr Rae. "One goal incredibly came from a kick up the park from his own penalty area, which bounced over the keeper at the other end. The other was from a free kick which he took."

The match went to penalties and Joshua saved three before scoring the winning spot-kick.

After the match an Atletico Madrid scout, who Mr Rae thought was a parent of one of the Madrid team, asked if Joshua was interested in going to the Spanish capital for a trial.

The pupil at Graeme High School in Falkirk was also recruited to play with a Spanish team in Scotland for a cup competition later that month.

The team defeated Celtic Boys' Club on the way to the final where they met Airdrie, drawing 0-0 then winning the cup 3-2 on penalties with Joshua saving the vital penalty.

He went on to impress Atletico Madrid coaches playing in three games with Atletico Madrid's Under 15s while in Spain.

"They wanted him to stay for a few more weeks to play some more matches, but he had school to go to," explained Mr Rae.

"They are looking at Josh and comparing him with Courtois, and Josh is 12 and Courtois is 19 or 20 now. They were all buzzing about him. They showed us where he would be staying if he joined. It was like a boarding school."

Frankie McAvoy, academy director at Hamilton, confirmed the club was in discussions with the Spanish giants but would also be happy if Joshua stayed in Scotland.

"They have asked if they could look at him for two weeks, and we said, yes. We wouldn't stand in his way as it's a great opportunity for one of our young goalkeepers to go and see what it is like in one of the biggest clubs in the world.

"They are delighted with him. We would need to sit down and speak with Atletico Madrid to see what way we would go.

"We're obviously doing something right when we have one of the top clubs scouting him."