Six members of Brentford Football Club’s successful Development Squad have been offered new terms while ten young players from the Under-16 squad have been handed their chance at full-time football.
Brentford Academy Director Ose Aibangee said the Club has offered extended contracts to current Development Squad players Charlie Adams, Antonio German, Luke Norris and Aaron Pierre.
Scholars Josh Clarke and Tyrell Miller-Rodney, who have been playing for the Development Squad this season due to their age, have been offered their first professional contracts.
The Club has also given ten members of the Under-16 squad scholarships that will start in the summer and will keep two more players on extended schoolboy terms.
Brentford finished fourth in the Under-21 Professional Development League Two South standings in the first season of the new league.
They were just behind Charlton Athletic, Cardiff City and Brighton and Hove Albion and finished ahead of teams including Bristol City, Swansea City and Queens Park Rangers.
Players from that squad have also made a breakthrough in to the First Team ranks this season and the Club has moved to keep them at Griffin Park.
Charlie Adams has been offered a new two-year contract.
The 18-year-old attacking midfield player has made 19 appearances in the Professional Development League this season and scored seven goals.
He also made his Football League debut as a substitute in an npower League One game against Carlisle United.
Antonio German has been offered another year at Griffin Park.
The 21-year-old striker scored one goal in five appearances for the First Team this season and also scored once in seven games during a loan spell at npower League Two Gillingham.
He scored seven goals in 13 Professional Development League games this term.
Striker Luke Norris finished as Brentford’s top scored in the Professional Development League, hitting ten goals in 18 games.
The 19-year-old has been offered a new one-year deal.
Aaron Pierre played 19 Professional Development League games in the centre of Brentford’s defence and also made his First Team debut in a Johnstone’s Paint Trophy tie against Southend United.
The 20-year-old was an unused substitute in four further First Team games and has been offered a one-year extension to his current deal.
Sam Griffiths and Leon Redwood have not been offered new contracts and they will leave Brentford at the end of the season.
Sam joined The Bees in 2011 and the 20-year-old has played 17 Professional Development League games this term, scoring one goal.
Leon signed in the summer of 2012 after a successful trial.
The 21-year-old left sided player made 15 Professional Development League appearances this season and scored three goals.
Josh Clarke and Tyrell Miller-Rodney are completing the second year of their two-year scholarships and have played for the Development Squad this season as they are too old for the Youth Team.
Both have been offered one-year professional contracts to be part of the Development Squad next season.
Central midfield player Tyrell, 19, has played 11 Professional Development League games this season while winger Josh, 18, has played 17, scoring once.
Sam Beale is, like Josh and Tyrell, completing his scholarship this season but qualifies for the Development Squad.
He has been out injured for most of this season and has been invited back for pre-season training when a decision will be made on his future.
Ose said: “The Development Squad has been very successful this season and we are keen to keep the nucleus of that group at the Club.
“First Team Manager Uwe Rösler has used players from this team in competitive games this season and everyone at the Club can see the progress they have made.
“We hope to see them develop further over the next year or two.
“I would like to congratulate Tyrell and Josh on getting their first professional deals and hope it is just the start for them.
“Sam Griffiths and Leon Redwood have represented the Club well this season and we wish them all the best for the future.
“We will do all we can to assist them to find new clubs and continue their careers.”
Jack Uttridge, who joined The Bees from Histon on a short-term Academy contract last month, has been offered a one-year professional contract to join the Club’s Development Squad.
The 18-year-old left-sided defender played two games for the Club’s Development Squad, scoring once, and five times for the Youth Team after a successful trial.
The Club has, however, not offered professional terms to four young players coming to the end of their scholarships.
Defender Stefan Tomasevic, midfield players Max Herbert and Joe Maloney and striker Myles Hippolyte will all leave Brentford at the end of the season.
Goalkeeper James Bransgrove will also leave the Club at the end of the season when his Youth contract expires.
Ose said: “Jack spent some time with us and we have liked what we have seen so far.
“We will see how he develops over the next year.
“I would like to wish those young players leaving us all the best for the rest of their career.
“Just because there is not an opportunity at Brentford at this time does not mean there is no future for them in football.”
Ten young players from the Club’s Under-16 squad will start two-year scholarships with Brentford in the summer.
Central defenders Audrius Laucys, Gradi Milenge and Daniel Webster, left back Makhosini Ryan Khayne, central midfield players James Ferry and Zain Westbrooke, winger Tom Field, midfield player Herson Rodrigues Alves and strikers Seika Jatta and Courtney Senior will all join the Club’s full-time youth ranks at the start of the 2013/14 season.
Nine of the ten have already played in the Under-18 Professional Development League for Brentford while Audrius, Makhosini and Courtney have played for Brentford’s Development Squad in the Under-21 league.
Audrius, Daniel, James, Tom, Herson, Seika and Courtney were part of the Brentford squad which won the Junior competition at the prestigious Milk Cup youth tournament in Northern Ireland last summer.
Two more youngsters – Bradley Clayton and Jhonttan Castiblanco – will be retained on extended schoolboy forms for the 2013/14 season, making them available for the Club’s Youth Team.
Ose said: “We have high hopes for this group of players.
“We have kept 12 players on from the Under-16 squad and given ten of them full-time scholarships.
“That is a high number compared to recent years at Brentford and shows the work being done in the Academy is starting to bear fruit.
“However, it is only if these played keep developing and get in to the First Team picture that we can be truly happy.
“We look forward to working with these young players over the next two years and helping them develop to be the best they can be.”