| Young Guns Blog by John Jones | page updated: Fri, 21 Jan 22 : 07:35 refresh for updates
To read all last season blog posts scroll through posts on the young guns page
Joe Budd (Bristol Rovers) born 2002, Midfielder. After initially being an academy player with Rovers, Joe started his time as a scholar with the club at the beginning of the 2019/20 season. He made such good progress in his first season with the U-18 team that the coaching staff decided that he would primarily be assigned to the older development team even though still eligible for the U-18’s when required. Unsurprisingly the management team decided to extend his contract and this season he is a first year professional. He has been gathering first team experience on loan assignments, in October he was at Hendon and then from early November until the end of the year he was at Taunton Town. He played regularly in games at both clubs showing that he is very capable of competing at that level of football. The next step may be that he will get challenged to perform at a higher level with another loan during the second half of the season. Joe’s only involvement with the first team at his parent club has been an appearance on the bench for the first round tie of the Carabao Cup this season, if he can continue making good progress then he will warrant some further consideration in the future. Joe first played for a Wales team when appearing for the U-17’s in an early season friendly tournament in the 2018/19 season. He was then in the squad that competed in the preliminary European qualification games a couple of months later.
Ryan Kavanagh (Cardiff City) born 2002, Midfielder. A member of the Cardiff academy from the age of seven, Ryan played for the various teams over the years, playing in one game for the U-18’s in the 2017/18 season. The following season he played in half of the games the U-18’s played as he came to the end of his time as a schoolboy. For the past two seasons he was a scholar at the club continuing to play for the U-18’s along with a few appearances for the U-23’s and doing well enough to secure a two year contract extension. This season, he is a member of the U-23 squad and has been playing in some games for the team. He will now want to establish himself in development football and show the coaching staff that he can progress toward first team football. It may be a possibility that a loan assignment could be considered as a means of providing him some experience of first team football demands.
Dylan Morgan (Swansea City) born 2002, Midfielder. Dylan was a scholar at Forest Green Rovers during the previous two seasons and played regularly for their U-18 team along with a few appearances for their older development team. Management at the club decided not to retain his services beyond the end of last season and so he became a free agent. Swansea offered him an opportunity to spend a trial period with them in the early weeks of the season and after it was successfully concluded signed him to become a member of their U-23 squad. He has been playing for the team in most of the games since that time and will be intent on continuing to develop his qualities with the hope that it will earn him a fruitful future with the Swans. As a schoolboy Dylan was affiliated with the regional Southampton academy programme and in that period played for the Wales U-15 team.
Ed Turns (Brighton and Hove Albion) born 2002, Defender. A new addition to our list of young guns with the announcement of his eligibility earlier in the season, the qualities Ed is exhibiting suggest he has the potential to become a Welsh international player in the future. Joining the Brighton academy in 2014, his good progress saw him make his debut for the U-18 team when introduced off the bench in the 2017/18 season and playing four more times the following season. Signing as a scholar for the start of the 2019/20 season, he established himself as a regular in the team. Last season the coaching staff deemed him ready to be challenged at the next level of development football and so he played in around half of the U-23 team’s games. This season, as a member of the U-23 squad he has appeared in all but a couple of their games but has more importantly made his first team debut with a starting assignment in the second round Carabao Cup tie. He has also had some bench duty in a couple of Premier League matches in recent weeks as well as for an FA Cup game earlier this month. It is therefore not a surprise that a club announcement a couple of months or so ago provided news that Ed had agreed a contract extension to remain a Brighton player for a further two seasons after this one.
Cian Tyler (Coventry City) born 2002, Goalkeeper. After playing for the Coventry academy teams, Cian began his time as a scholar with the club at the start of the 2018/19 season and was regularly involved with U-18 games as well as having some exposure at U-23 level over the two seasons of his time in that capacity. As that time came toward its conclusion the club management arranged for him to get some first team experience when he was loaned out to local non-league club Barwell. His time at the club did not last long as it coincided with the cessation of football in March 2020. He did receive good reports for the few games he played. In the summer of 2020, Cian signed on as a professional with the club and is a member of the U-23 squad. Cian has not played for the Coventry first team but has had some occasions on the bench. His first was for an FA Cup tie in the 2019/20 season and then last season for a Carabao Cup match. He was recently on the bench for a Championship game. Cian was a regular member of the Wales U-17 squads in the 2018/19 season and played in a number of games. It was not his first involvement with that age group as he had been called up as an injury replacement the previous season, but only appeared on the bench in the three games he was with them.
page posted Fri, 21 Jan 22 : 07:35 : refresh for updates
[ photo embedded from FAW cymru ] |
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