Students at Plume Academy in Maldon were treated to a visit by a successful football player last week - who offered stories, advice and inspiration.

USA International and AC Milan football player, Yunus Musah visited the secondary school on Thursday, June 5.

At 22 years of age, Yunus has played in the World Cup, Copa Del Rey Final and two Italian Cup finals.

During his visit he met with students in Year 7 and 8 to chat about his career from his early years at school to his current time in Italy. In addition to this, he spoke to PE gifted and talented students to discuss elite level sport and what it takes to achieve sporting excellence.

Students even had the opportunity to ask questions and collect his autograph.

A spokesperson for Plume Academy praised his visit, calling it "a great opportunity" for students at Plume to meet an athlete who was successful at such a young age, and to hear the stories about his successes and failures along the way.

Yunus said: "I would like to thank Mr Owen and the Academy for inviting me to the school. It was a pleasure to meet all the students throughout the afternoon.

"I hope me having shared my stories of the ups and downs in my career will help them learn that resilience is a key skill, and that hard work always pays off.

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"I hope I have inspired the young people of Plume Academy to go on and be successful."

Assistant Head Teacher, Mr Owen, grins alongside Yunus. (Credit: Plume Academy)

Assistant headteacher, Mr Owen added: "It has been a pleasure knowing Yunus since 2015, he has always been a humble and generous young man, and this is evident with the time he gives to visit our students.

"He has a remarkable story moving to Spain at 17 years of age but has demonstrated that with a strong work ethic anything is possible.

"I would like to thank him for visiting and offering the students at Plume a wonderful opportunity."

Yunus remains the youngest non-Spanish player to score for Valencia and continues to be one of the highest rated young players in Europe. The community at Plume Academy say they wish him well for next season.