Rai Simons’s representatives are in talks with Sky Bet League One side Chesterfield over a new deal for the striker whose contract expires in the summer.

Simons has struck five goals in 19 appearances in all competitions this season, including four in just five starts in the league, with a number of clubs from higher divisions believed to be showing an interest in him.

The 20-year-old’s transition to League football has been impressive considering he was not even a regular starter at Ilkeston in the Evo-Stik League Northern Premier — the seventh tier of English football — last season.

The Bermudian scored twice in manager Danny Wilson’s first game in charge, a 7-1 thrashing at home to Shrewsbury Town on January 2, but has found himself on the substitutes bench in recent weeks. He was an unused substitute in Chesterfield’s 2-1 win away to Gillingham at the weekend, which lifted the club to eighteenth in the table, three points above the relegation zone.

Simons does, however, appear to remain in the plans of Wilson, who praised the former Ilkeston player for his goal-scoring performance in Chesterfield reserves’ 7-0 win at home to Gateshead last week.

“Jordan Slew and Rai Simons played very well together on the day,” Wilson said. “Their attitude and application against a team they could have strolled around but they didn’t. They were very professional and they were rewarded with goals.”

It is understood that Simons, who was signed by former Chesterfield manager Paul Cook in April last year, is keen to stay at the club.

Dan Chapman, Simons’s agent, said: “We have been in regular dialogue with Chesterfield for some time and are comfortable with the position in that respect.

“It is true that there are a lot of clubs who could not fail to have noticed the transition Rai has made from non-League football to the professional game who are courting his services, so we will make sure with Rai that the right decisions are made, as they were this time last year as his Ilkeston contract was nearing its conclusion.”

Andrew Bascome, the Bermuda head coach, will hope to have Simons available for their Caribbean Cup first-round qualifiers away to Cuba on March 22 and at home to French Guiana four days later.

Simons scored on his Bermuda debut in a 2-2 draw at home to Grenada in a World Cup qualifying warm-up match in March last year.

He then started the first-round first-leg away to Bahamas, a 8-0 win for Bermuda, but was benched for their subsequent three qualifying matches, coming on a substitute in their final game, a 1-0 defeat to Guatemala in the second-round second-leg at the National Stadium in June.

Simons was out to prove that skills challenges were child’s play when he appeared in a children’s television show in Britain at the weekend.

He took part in the Chip ‘N’ Bin challenge, which required him try and chip in as many footballs into the Nick Kicks bin.

The stunt is part of the new television series Nick Kicks, which involves all Football League clubs and caters for young fans. The show was aired on Saturday on the Nick Toons channel.