He is the basketball superkid who turned down offers to play in the United States and for Real Madrid .

The 15-year-old, who stands 6ft 10ins, has been thrilling crowds of 4,000 in Spain.

In fact, they are so impressed with him in Madrid there is talk of asking him to get a Spanish passport and playing for their national team Now Sussex-based basketball fans are being given the chance to see Dan Clark, the nation's hottest young property, for themselves as international action comes to the Triangle in Burgess Hil Clark, who plays for Estudiantes, will be leading England against nine other nations in Division B of the European Championships for under-16s.

Austria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Macedonia, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Holland and Sweden make up the division, with teams playing each other once and the champions moving in to Division A next year.

Action starts on Friday and there are matches every day except Wednesday, with the last round on August 15.

England are not expected to take top spot but there will be great interest in Clark and players like Matt Bryan-Amaning (Brixton) and David Ajumobi (East London).

Clark's decision to stay away from the States for the time being was made with the help of his father Mark, a respected coach, and mother Claire, a Great Britain international.

Mark said: What we liked about going to Europe was they taught you an all round game.

"We went to camps at Real Madrid and in Germany and their programmes were good but we knew we would be entrusting our son to a group of people for two-thirds of the year and we liked the set-up at Estudiantes.

"He has been playing at a high level in Spain and he has more than coped.

"He represented the Madrid region when they won the national championship and has attracted attention in the USA."

Clark, who comes from Chingford, is due to stay with Estudiantes until he is 18.

He said: "We train four or five times a week. The quality of play slapped me in the face when I got there but I averaged 20 points and ten rebounds a game and we had more than 4,000 people watching us when we won the championships."

England open on Friday (6pm) against an Irish side they beat 82-75 in Portugal recently with 37 points by Matt Williams, from Ellesmere Port.

Coach Chris Morgan will look for Clark and Bryan-Amaning to impress.

He said: "Dan gives us outside game as well because he has a good three-point shot while Matt is a dynamic player in the way he drives to the basket.

Daily tickets for the Championships, being run by FIBA and England Basketball in association with Brighton Bears, cost £5 (£3 for under-16s). Nine-day tickets are £25 (£15 juniors).