Wanderers have welcomed the new intake of young players beginning their full-time Academy stay with the Whites.
The 13 youngsters, most of whom are starting two-year scholarship deals, will continue their football and educational journey with Wanderers, having progressed through the club’s younger age groups or joined from other club academy set-ups.
They will join Wanderers’ existing second-years as part of the Youth Team squad led by Julian Darby which last season won the U19 EFL Youth Alliance and Lancashire FA Youth Cup and produced nine players who have been rewarded with professional contracts at Wanderers this summer.
The teenagers formally signed on and completed their induction before starting pre-season training this week as the latest crop of young players hoping to continue their development and forge a successful career with the Whites.
Wanderers’ Head of Academy, Dave Gardiner (above), said: “We are excited to get these players in the building and onto our full-time programme as we look to continue to build upon the recent success of the Academy.
“We now have a fantastic pathway and programme for these players to develop both on and off the pitch. Collectively they have a lot of potential and we are looking forward to maximising their potential as individuals and as a group.
“This season we are lucky that not only have we got players who have come through our academy system, but we are now also able to attract talented players from other Category 1 academies who joined us during the U16 season.
“We recognise they will take time to adapt to their new full-time training schedule and also to bond together as a group, but we look forward to seeing how all these players develop over the next two years.”
Gardiner added: “We have also been very fortunate to add two additional players to our second-year scholar cohort and excited to add them to the group after successful trials at the end of last season.
“Luca (Kirkpatrick) and Tomi (Adesena) both have very good technical and physical attributes and we fully expect them to hit the ground running during pre-season.”
Wanderers' new academy arrivals are:
Quines Fakhy – right winger
Alfie Healy – left wing-back
Louis Evans – central defender
Denver Clement – attacking midfielder
James Shillinglaw – goalkeeper
Sam Hopkinson – central midfielder
Charlie Quirk – central defender
Rowan Baucutt – central defender
Levi Kendrick – right-back
Tomi Adesina – left-back
Daniel Ogboru – forward
Oliver Best - central midfielder
Lucas Kirkpatrick - central midfielder