PFA pre-season: Fernando Forestieri, Jonny Williams among free agents training in camp dedicated to helping find new clubs | Football news

The PFA pre-season training camp for free agents is back this summer.

From 2024, the PFA pre-season – a fully funded residency program held at Champneys Springs in Leicestershire – has helped combat the uncertainty of free agency and helped players on the way to the next chapter of their playing career.

Last year, those present included John Swift – who went on to sign for Portsmouth – and Angus Gunn, who signed for Nottingham Forest and then went to the World Cup with Scotland.

This year, the camp has been extended from 10 to 12 weeks, and will include WSL and WSL2 players for the first time.

Sky Sports visited again this year to speak to six players – Fernando Forestieri, Jonny Williams, Will Keane, Kyle Vassell, Marvin Johnson and Tom McIntyre – who are on the rise as they look to find their next clubs…

Forestieri: I want to play in England again – and I can play for two more years

Fernando Forestieri left Sheffield Wednesday in June 2020 and, since then, has played for Udinese in Italy, Johor Darul Ta’zim in Malaysia and AEL Limassol in Cyprus – but wants to return to English football.

“This is my first time as a free agent. I am 36 years old and I understand the situation, but the most important thing is that I feel happy to continue playing,” he said. Sky Sports.

“It was different. I had a great experience, but you can see how much you miss English football. Now it’s time to come back.

“We live in London and my wife will give birth in August. My first wish is to find something in England.”.

“I started my training badges, so maybe this will be easier for me if I play here. That’s what I’m focused on, but I feel good to play for another two years.”

Forestieri spent more than two years in Malaysia, and the numbers of his time are impressive: 72 appearances, 50 goals, 25 assists and 10 medals.

“My agent played there and I saw a project to play in the Asian Champions League, a very difficult competition. I went to JDT, which is a good club with a lot of ambition.

“It’s not because I was very good, it’s because I was in the best team in the country. It was like Manchester City here. You have your skills, you train well, you eat well and you go with the right mindset. Some players go with the wrong mindset and think it’s easy, but it’s not easy. You have to push yourself.”

Williams: I want to emulate the great professionals who have helped me

Former Wales international Jonny Williams left Gillingham earlier this summer after three seasons.

It was the longest time he spent at one club since Crystal Palace, where he started and stayed between 2002 and 2019.

“It’s my first out-of-contract situation, since I was eight, so I’ve been blessed with the PFA pre-season that started three years ago and the timing is right for me,” he said.

“Otherwise, I’ll be training at home in Kent by myself. I’m a self-trained person, but it’s hard to train without someone watching.

“I got a heads up from Gillingham in the January window about looking at the summer. We were very much down in the league and people started planning for next season. It’s good because you get a start, mentally. In a way, it’s helped.

“I found it difficult there, to be honest. We started each season with high expectations and, on paper, our team was playing well. A lot of it is margins in football, but it shows what happens when you don’t get the right combination and that consistency.

“To be honest, I think I needed a change and the change came at the right time. It makes me happy to think, wherever I go, I can help that team and help the people around me.

“I was lucky when I was young to have a leadership team [at Palace] and others like Paddy McCarthy, Mile Jedinak, Damien Delaney, Julian Speroni. They were top champions and I’m going into that region where I’m going to be the guy so, wherever I go, I want to be that guy, help everyone around me and win. I look forward to that challenge.

“I missed a lot of football from 17 to 22/23, so, however long I play, I want to enjoy that time as long as possible.”

Keane has overseen a Championship comeback

Will Keane spent the second half of last season on loan at Reading.

“It started really well. I got a few goals then, after not playing much at Preston and going to a few games in a row, I had a few niggles and then I went out a little bit,” he said.

“That bothered me. I would have liked to play more.”

Soon after the loan expired, he was released by Preston after three seasons.

“It’s my second time as a free agent. The first time was during Covid and I did a month or so of training on my own.

“Being in the PFA pre-season is the best. It’s not an easy place sometimes, being on your own, and having the support of the staff and players in the same boat is great. Now I’m looking for a clean slate and I’m excited for what’s next.

“Getting back to the Championship is the goal, 100 percent, but time will tell where I will be. I will see what options I have and see where I can reach in the coming weeks.

“I want to keep building. The last year or two, I didn’t play for three or four years before that, so it’s about trying to get back to that.

“I’m starting slowly, but I still feel fit and healthy, so I want to play as long as possible and enjoy it and hopefully I’ll be very successful.”

Vassell: I have a new hunger after a hard return to the US

Former Northern Ireland international Kyle Vassell returned to England earlier this year following a spell in the US with the USL’s Colorado Springs Switchbacks.

He only played 10 times for the club, however, the last coming in November 2025.

“I came home in April, so I haven’t been in the office for months. I really needed this [PFA pre-season] so it was nice to go fast. I’m trying to get back into the league, so I’m using it as a showcase.

“I’ve never had a moment like this outside of a game. It was a bad situation. We went to America to try to win that league, but it wasn’t the right place. I had to leave because it wasn’t working for me.

“It was very difficult to deal with, especially when my wife and children were really happy there. They loved it and my wife wanted to stay, but we had a conversation and I said, because of my work, I have to go back home.

“I probably shouldn’t have come back to the US. It’s probably the only regret I have for my career.”

He says “never say never” to going overseas again, but at 33, and with his family settled, Vassell is aiming to return to the Sky Bet EFL for the first time since 2021/22, when he played for Cheltenham.

“What I want to do is to return to the English game. I want to go in and get promoted again. I’m dying for another one. I want to go into the building and somehow pull the team up to the league.

“I want to be at the highest level, the best club I can play for and make me and my family proud again. I know I’m at the end of my career now, so I want to make the most of it and enjoy it all.

“I spent a lot of time in my 20s probably doing the wrong things, maybe not living as well as I could, but now I’m doing everything the right way. I’m grateful for the job I’ve had, but I still want more. I feel like I have a new hunger.”

Johnson: I’m 35 but I still feel like a child in my body!

Marvin Johnson has been out of contract since January, when he left Port Vale when the temporary contract he signed at Vale Park expires in October 2025.

He made just seven appearances in that short spell, but missed five Sky Bet Championship games at Sheffield Wednesday in 2024/25.

“It was an up and down thing last season. There were a few options last summer that I looked at – and it’s easy to say now I had to take it,” he said.

“I went to Port Vale with Darren Moore, but then he was let go and I moved on from that and I wanted to put myself in the best possible position to start again.

“I’m very fit and I’m proud of that, during the last six months anyway it’s been individual training, training sessions, staying on top of it. I’ll never let myself get into a bad enough situation anyway, but it’s about staying on the ball, keeping good habits and keeping the mind right.

“I feel good, I’m fit, I’m sharp. I was ready to come in from day one. I’ve already done my off-season work and I’m ready to go.

“I want to play at the best level I can, the highest level I can. I still have a lot to give – I still feel like a little kid in my body. I’m always healthy and always getting my skills back.”

Tom McIntyre: I haven’t settled since I left Reading in 2024

“I haven’t settled down, which I found difficult. I’ve been at Reading for a long time, then I went to Portsmouth, and in my first game, I broke my ankle, which was really scary to start like that when I thought I could kick and get a bit of rhythm in my football.

“From there, different things happened and I came back the next season, I had another minor injury, then I started the season, so I was playing a balance game. I played 10 games in a row in a team that was struggling. It was difficult, I was judged on that and it was, really. That was my career at Portsmouth and it was over.

“I’ve been loaned out to different places, but they don’t really work. Charlton were promoted and they were winning every week, so it was a difficult team to break into. At Bradford, it was a difficult situation because they were doing very well. Then I signed a six-month deal at Aberdeen in January and I got injured after four or five games when I felt like I was getting into a rhythm.

“It’s been a tough two years. I’ve been playing at a certain level for the last two or three years, and, when you start skating, you start asking a lot of questions. But you have to be gentle with yourself. I know everyone has their own story to cry about, but there have been a few things that have been difficult, even outside of football.

“I want to get somewhere, settle down and get back to playing my best football because I haven’t changed as a player, I’ve had some painful things going on, where I still think I have responsibilities and I’m still getting my quality back. I’m looking to get somewhere and do my thing.

“One hundred percent I have a point to prove. I’m looking forward to getting some progress in my football.”