RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sources"I just love doing things differently. I love trying to make my own opportunities as well."
Goalkeeper Milo Beimers is sitting in the back of a van in Alicante, taking shelter from the afternoon Spanish heat.
The adapted vehicle is his home on wheels for the foreseeable future, as the 18-year-old takes a unique approach to finding a new club.
With his A-levels out of the way, Beimers took the decision to leave Glentoran in the Irish Premiership, where he had been since 13 years of age, to embark on a new chapter in continental Europe.
After heading from Belfast to Dublin to catch the ferry to France, with dad Kevin at the wheel, a drive down to Spain followed, where Beimers started the first of several trials.
Father and son headed down the Spanish coast, and will eventually head inland and across the Portuguese border to Lisbon and Porto.
Overall, it is set to be roughly a 2,000-mile journey - all with the goal of trying to find Milo a new club.
While Beimers knows the rough outline of his journey over the coming weeks, his ultimate destination is still very much unknown.
"I just thought it's a perfect opportunity. Nothing's weighing me down," Beimers told BBC Sport NI.
"If there was ever a time I was to do it, it's now."
Three attempts to pass MOT
The van that Beimers and his dad are travelling in belongs to his sister, Charlie, who is travelling around Canada.
When his sister bought the van it was "in bad shape, it was terrible".
It was so bad, in fact, that it took three attempts to pass its MOT.
But after it was road-legal, the Beimers family started to convert it into a home on wheels, with a bed, storage and a cooking area.
Thankfully, for Milo and Kevin, it has held up on the journey so far.
Kevin is a video game designer who enjoys live sport, but his real passion is helping his children.
"For me, him and my sister, it's been a good project to work on, and going to travel around with your dad, a lot of kids would love doing this," said Milo.
"I just have to be grateful for it and also take the opportunities that are given to me here, and I think this whole trip will definitely bring us closer together."
Through his agent, Beimers has a number of trials set up throughout Spain and Portugal.
He will also have a quick flight back to England to train with a London-based club.
While he can't name the teams he has lined up, aside from third division side Hercules who he has completed a session with, they range across the top five tiers in Spain and Portugal, in age-group and senior football.
He's also learning Spanish to help integrate on his trials, and the culture as well as the football is important.
Beimers admits there is an element of risk to his approach, but he has an open mind.
"If it doesn't work out, then I'll always have a home in Northern Ireland," he said.
"It's quite easy to just sit back and just hope that something was going to come to me.
"There probably would have been things, but I think it's better to just go and do it yourself, and hopefully it will work out".
'It's good to be free and less scheduled'
Beimers' approach has already opened doors that would probably have remained closed if he had chosen to stay in Belfast.
Travelling in a van has helped with his appeal to clubs, who don't have to pay for travel or accommodation, like they would with other players.
Instead, Beimers and his dad can find somewhere to pull up for the night nearby, and he's ready to go.
When he doesn't have trials, they can also drive to nearby beaches to train, or take the bikes off the beaten track.
Something else that helps Beimers is his passport situation.
Beimers was born in Northern Ireland to Canadian parents, and represented Canada at the Under-17 World Cup in 2025.
He also holds a Dutch passport through his grandfather, which helps with player registration with European clubs.
"It's nice to not know where you're going, even though there's quite a lot of things that we have sorted out. It's good to be free and just be less scheduled," he said.
"I love learning from new coaches, new environments. So I thought, 'yeah, let's mix it up a bit'."
Beimers says he wants to play "at the highest level possible" in his career, and his ultimate goal is to play against some of the biggest sides in Europe.
"I want to play against Barcelona or Real Madrid. Give me one game against one of those big clubs and then I'll just retire after that," he said, jokingly.
"I'm going to keep playing football until I hate it and that could be until I'm 40 or 50. I just want to make a name for myself."
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