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To read all last season blog posts scroll through posts on the young guns page
Harrison Bright (Newport County) born 2004, Defender. Harrison played for the Cardiff City academy teams for a number of seasons before moving on to Newport and is a first year scholar at County this season. He has been playing regularly for their U-18 team and has done well enough to be given an opportunity at first team level in EFL Trophy matches. There have been two occasions where he has been introduced off the bench to gain some valuable experience of first team football competition in those matches. He will certainly be working as hard as possible to make other appearances in the future. Ben Coley (Cardiff City) born 2003, Goalkeeper. In his first year as a scholar with Cardiff, Ben has frequently been involved with the U-18 team on matchdays, but up to this point they have all been bench appearances. The club have four candidates eligible for selection and so the competition for the starting assignment has been at a high level. In his time as a schoolboy, he has shown the quality of his ability by being selected for Wales teams at both U-15 and U-17 levels. If he does not play for the U-18’s in the remaining few games of this one, he will certainly be a more prominent candidate next season. Sam Collins (Nottingham Forest) born 2003, Midfielder. Sam has established himself as a regular member of the club’s U-18 team in his first year as a scholar with them. He has had a starting role in the majority of their games and will now be aiming to be continually improving his abilities to show that he can comfortably cope with the demands of development football, increasing the possibility of first team consideration in the future. In the 2018/19 season Sam played for the Wales U-16 team.
Max Crane (MK Dons) born 2003, Midfielder. Max has played regularly for the Dons U-18 team for the past two seasons. Now in his second year as a scholar with the club, his time in that capacity will come to an end in the next few weeks. His hope will be, that over the time period, he has done well enough to convince the management staff to retain his services and allow him an opportunity to be a potential first team player in the future. Max has been involved with Wales teams as a schoolboy and was included in the extended squad for the U-17’s last season.
Ruben Davies (Swansea City) born 2004, Forward. A member of last season’s Wales schoolboy team that successfully competed in the Victory Shield matches, Ruben is a first year scholar with the Swans this season. He was given a brief introduction to U-18 football last season when making a couple of appearances off the bench for the team. He has also played some games for the team this season and must be doing well as he earned selection for an U-23 match squad as well. I’m sure he was delighted not only to be introduced off the bench but also to have scored on his debut at that level.
Rio Dyer (Hull City) born 2003, Forward. After being affiliated with the Swansea academy, Rio moved on to become another South Walian recruited by Hull to join their scholar ranks. He has settled well at his new club, making an impact and playing regularly for the U-18 team. His good performances prompted the Wales U-18 coaching staff to call him up to join the squad assembled for the recent training camp. I’m sure he will have been very pleased to have been rewarded for the obvious effort he has been exhibiting and particularly so as it resulted in him making his international debut.
Ben Fyles (Blackburn Rovers) born 2003, Forward. Ben is in his first season as a scholar at Blackburn after having been a member of their academy teams over previous seasons. He did not feature for the U-18 team in the early part of the season but has eventually played in quite a few games for the team and has become more of a regular selection in recent months. As a schoolboy, Ben has had involvement with Wales teams and was amongst the group of players who participated in the 2017 Cymru Cup series of games. Josh Jenkins (Bristol Rovers) born 2003, Forward. Josh has spent a few years progressing through the Bristol Rovers academy teams before becoming a scholar with the club this season. He has been doing well enough to have secured a regular starting role in the U-18 team throughout the season. His aim is of course to become a member of the Rovers first team and if he can continue to find improvements in his game during his time in the development programme, it may eventually become possible for him to do so. Josh’s first involvement with Wales teams occurred when selected at U-17 level last season.
Lewis Ridd (Ipswich Town) born 2004, Goalkeeper. As a schoolboy, Lewis took part in the 2018 Cymru Cup matches and was a member of the Afan Lido academy teams at that time. I’m uncertain about this statement, but he may have had an association with the Swansea academy after that time. This season he has joined Ipswich as a first year scholar and has been playing for their U-18 team. I have only been able to locate line-ups for some of their games and he has started in roughly half of them with other occasions on the bench. He is doing well at his new club and this prompted selection to attend the Wales training camp for this season’s U-17 group last month. I’m sure that he will want to continue his association with the national squads in the future and will be hoping for playing time for next season’s U-18 team.
++ to be confirmed if eligible for Wales
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