MILLWALL academy director Scott Fitzgerald said he was delighted five second-year scholars signed professional contracts with the club, and opened up on how the improved pathway to the first team has helped retain talent.
George Beaumont, Elias Mansor, Dean Forbes, Oliver Whitby, and Harry Taylor all committed their futures to the club in August after featuring for both the under-18s and the under-21s last season.
Whitby and Mansor are central midfielders, Forbes and Taylor operate at centre-back, while Beaumont joined the academy playing on the wing, but now plays at full-back.
Fitzgerald told NewsAtDen he was delighted they came through.
“As you go through the age groups, it gets harder and harder for the guys,” Fitzgerald said. “We end up taking fewer players and fewer players because there’s only so many boys who are going to make it.
“For us to get five professionals from the under-eighteens group last year, we are very pleased with that. It’s the next step for those guys.
“We’ve had Elias just go away with his country [Afghanistan], for the main squad, so that’s a huge achievement for him, but also for the club.
“The owner, [director of football] Steve [Gallen], see that the academy is an integral part of the football club, which is really pleasing, and that also then brings pressure that we’ve got to produce players.”
The Lions’ pathway from the academy to the first team has strengthened in recent years, with Millwall academy product Romain Esse becoming the club’s record sale to Crystal Palace in January, just over two years after he made his first-team debut.
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Alex Neil has handed first-team debuts to several under-21s, including Ra’ees Bangura-Williams, Sheldon Kendall, and Jack Howland – and several academy players interviewed by NewsAtDen have been encouraged by increasing opportunities in the senior side.
“It’s been huge,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s been really encouraging for us to be able to get the players over with the first team.
“The under-21s have trained next to the first team for ten years. So that’s not a new thing. It’s a fantastic opportunity.
“I always talk about how we want to be the club that gives the players the opportunity, but then it’s up to the player. By being on the same site, almost on the next pitch to the first team, there are opportunities every single day for our young players to get in front of the manager. But once they’re over there, then it’s up to them.”
Millwall are arguably in the most competitive area in England for recruiting talent, with clubs from all over the country regularly sending scouts to south London. Fitzgerald discussed how the club retains promising youngsters amid interest from other sides.
“It’s going to be an ongoing process, and there’s always a lot of noise outside of the club,” Fitzgerald said. “There’s always going to be players who want to leave you, no matter what you do.
“But it’s about us creating a pathway, which I feel that we’ve done, and the player and parent buying into what we’re trying to do. I think we can obviously demonstrate the successes that we’ve had, and I’m fully confident that there’ll be future successes within that.”
