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A debutant for the Plymouth Argyle first team a month after celebrating his fifteenth birthday, forward Freddie Issaka (2006) was selected for an EFL Trophy match at that time. A mix of predominantly youth team games with also a good number of first team involvements has occurred in the intervening time and he has recently celebrated his eighteenth birthday. Now he will be intent on establishing himself as a regular member of the first team and has begun the season positively, with a starting assignment in the cup tie along with a couple of reasonable length substitute appearances in league matches. It looks as though he will add a substantial amount of game time minutes and gain valuable experience over the coming months. Freddie can operate effectively either out wide or as a central striker and played for both the Wales and England schoolboy teams. Already with a large cap collection, having added many for the Wales U-17 and U-19 teams, his target now will be to not only impress at club level but also display his quality to warrant Wales U-21 squad selection.

With an outstanding goal scoring record in development football, midfielder Luke Harris (2005) was fast tracked at Fulham and promoted to first team involvement for the 2022/23 season. He made his debut for the team in an early season Carabao Cup tie and later had some brief appearances off the bench in Premier League games, this in turn leading to bench time in Wales senior team games. Last season, to facilitate additional involvement in first team football, he was loaned out to Exeter City where he displayed his ability to comfortably cope with the demands of League One. He is again operating in the same division on a loan assignment at Birmingham City this season and with the Blues intent on limiting their inclusion at that level to one season, they must be confident that he is a player with enough quality to help them earn promotion. Again, as a means of providing valuable game time experience, Luke played for the Wales U-21 team last season and will be an important player for the team in this one. Still very much in the early part of his career, I am sure that he will return to the senior squad in the future.

For the past two seasons, defender Matt Baker (2003) has played in well over a half century of matches for Newport County as he represented the club on loan assignments from parent club Stoke City, gaining plenty of praise for his performances by the management team. In the summer Matt decided to join them on a permanent basis rather than accept a renewal of his Stoke contract. He will now want to build further on what he has already achieved at the Exiles and certainly had reason to celebrate when scoring his first goal for them at the weekend. A captain of the Wales team at schoolboy level, Matt continued to represent the nation through the intermediate levels and collected a handful of caps for the Wales U-21 team last season, adding to the one awarded for his debut at the end of the previous one. It is expected that he will be a member of the squad again this season as they continue the qualifying group games that will conclude in November. Along with Matt in the Newport team, midfielder Kai Whitmore (2001) is another that has caught the eye of the fans at the club. Signed in the summer from Cymru Premier side Haverfordwest County, he has made the transition into a higher level of football successfully and not only scored his first goal for the club but combined it with being awarded the man of the match accolade.
    
Since its inception three decades ago, the League of Wales, now evolved into the Cymru Premier, has been a development stage in the careers of quite a few players who have progressed to become Football League performers. A pleasing trend is that the frequency of occurrence has increased over the years and that is certainly an endorsement of the league’s positive development. Kai is an example along with midfielder Josh Williams (2004) signed in the summer by Tranmere Rovers from Connah’s Quay Nomads. Josh has been on the bench for both league matches but did get a starting assignment for last week’s Carabao Cup tie. He took full advantage of the opportunity, playing a highly rated role in helping the team secure a comfortable victory. He also played in this week’s Bristol Motors Trophy match and again acquitted himself well enough to receive praise for his contribution. It is of course the start of his adaptation to full time professional football and the early signs are very promising. One thing that will not be unfamiliar to Josh as he negotiates the path toward establishing a noteworthy career. He has already donned the national shirt when gaining caps for the Wales C team and will be hoping that he can add to the two in his possession in the future.

Carabao Cup matches present managers the option of introducing young players into first team squad situations and over the years many have made their club debut in the competition. Stockport County’s management team decided to select an inexperienced side for their match last week and included midfielder Rhys Watson (2006) and defender Jake Lewis (2007) on the bench. At the conclusion of the game both had made their debut’s, Rhys introduced as a substitute at the start of the second half and then Jake entered the field for the last few minutes. Both will be concentrating on developing their careers in youth football circumstances at present, but there may be the occasional chance to experience that first team atmosphere in competitions such as the Bristol Motors Trophy.            

[ photo embedded from FAW cymru ]