Mells, 20, was part of the Adelaide United squad that took all before them during their 2015-16 A-League double winning campaign.

The former Chelsea and Southampton youth product played 25 games under the guidance of Guillermo Amor including the Reds 3-1 Grand Final victory over the Wanderers

Mells was destined to follow his impressive breakthrough campaign the following term but during the 2016-17 pre-season he got a case of salmonella poisoning. Then while still sick he went on a tour to Malaysia and ended up catching glandular fever.

After months of battling to recover, Mells' progress was thwarted yet again when he fell victim to an ankle injury. In all, the youngster ended up playing six games last term.

After the season from hell, the versatile midfielder pursued an offer with a Dutch club at the start of the 2017-18 campaign but the opportunity fell through.  

After returning home, the 20- year-old found opportunities in the A-League limited, but with the January transfer window open, Mells is looking to get his once promising career back on track.

“My goal is to find a club in January in either the A League or overseas,” he said speaking to FourFourTwo.

“I want to hit the ground running and get as many appearances as I can to help my team win games.

“Times have been hard. I’ve been out of football for four or five months now. Obviously, I’ve been training and keeping fit and obviously those things are not an issue.

“My body hasn’t felt this good in a very long time and it hasn’t looked as good. I’ve been working even harder so that when I do get the opportunity I just take it with both hands.

“That’s the main thing for me, just to get back into professional football.

"I know I can produce that quality that the people at Adelaide, Chelsea, Southampton know that I have. That’s the main thing for me.”

After recovering from illness and injury, Mells looked to have started the next chapter in his football career, however, the deal with second division club in Holland didn’t eventuate.

It's needless to say it’s been a frustrating period for the 20-year-old.

“When I went over to Holland I did very well,” Mells said.

“The contract was already there. I liked the club, I liked everything about the club. But there was a problem with the coach who wanted to bring in different players, but the actual club wanted to sign me.

“After the year I had at Adelaide, I wasn’t in the mindset to go through something like that. So, I left there just before the season started. Which is obviously bad timing because that’s when the transfer window shut.

“So that is why I came back to Australia. For some reason this season, clubs filled up all their places quickly.

“In previous years there were always spaces available in case they wanted to make a mid-season signing or a late August signing.

“So, it left me with no options in the A League. Now that the January window is open it is more likely that something will hopefully come up.”