With pre-season training ahead of the 2023/24 season underway, 12 players have agreed to join us as part of our under-18s side.

Josh Djoro, Kaya Halil, Ollie Shield, Emeka Peters, Gregory Asemokhai, Mikel Francis, Konstantin Ivanov, Freddie Taylor and Connor Wolfheimer have all put pen to paper on two-year scholarships. Yaw Agyei signs on a two-year scholarship with a club option of a one-year professional contract whilst Andre Grey and Kerron Samuels join on one-year scholarships which turn into one-year professional contracts from 30 June 2024 with club options of an additional year. 

The new arrivals have started full-time training at the Robert Rowan Performance Centre and will also receive a range of educational opportunities during their time at the club. The side, coached by Lydia Bedford and Jon-Paul Pittman, will play matches in the EFL South East Youth Alliance League, as well as the Youth Alliance Cup and the FA Youth Cup. 

The players join us from a range of different football backgrounds with five players arriving having departed academies at either Premier League or Championship level, whilst seven players arrive from non-league or independent academy programmes. 

New players left to right: Andre Grey, Connor Wolfheimer, Emeka Peters, Mikel Francis, Freddie Taylor, Kaya Halil, Gregory Asemokhai, Konstantin Ivanov, Ollie Shield, Yaw Agyei, Josh Djoro, Kerron Samuels

Josh arrives having spent time within the youth set up at Millwall whilst attacking midfielder Kaya will move to West London after coming through the ranks at Tottenham Hotspur. Ollie arrives from Southampton whilst Kerron signs from Liverpool and winger Emeka makes the short trip across West London from Fulham.

Connor joins from Isthmian League Premier Division side Kingstonian. The goalkeeper also came through the football programmes at Brentford FC Community Sports Trust having worked with them from the age of eight.

Andre will link up with the under-18s from Corinthian Casuals, and Konstantin joins from Bracknell Town, whilst Mikel signs from Erith & Belvedere. 

Yaw, Gregory and Freddie have come through academy programmes such as Northampton’s Pro Direct Academy, ECA Academy and Cre8tive Academy, which aim to develop young players and help them to forge a career in football. 

Our Under-18 side begin their pre-season campaign on Saturday 8 July when they head to Portsmouth in an 11am kick-off for Lydia Bedford’s young group.