Darlington trio scouted for V9 Academy
Darlington fans may be worried as three of their key players have been scouted for the new prestigious non-league academy, the V9 Academy, which is associated with former non-league and now Premier League star Jamie Vardy.
At the end of the current season Josh Heaton, Luke Trotman and Joe Wheatley have all bee invited and will attend a week trial at the Etihad campus and will have the chance to train alongside Vardy.
The academy has been established to allow non-league players a great opportunity to impress scouts from clubs in higher leagues.
After last year, five players were able to secure a move up the footballing ladder, one of these scored against Darlington last season for Tamworth, Dan Newton, who was able to join League 2 Stevenage thanks to the academy.
But Quaker's second in command Alan White was quick to point out that all the players are contracted for next season:
“They’re all contracted for next season, they’re all Darlington players.
“It’s great that they’re going down there as it shows that we’ve got lads who have got talent, it shows Darlington Football Club is doing alright.
“It can only be good for young players to experience it, to train with other lads, get good coaching and a view of what it’s like at a big club.
“But does it mean we’re going to lose them? No it doesn’t. If someone takes an interest in them it’s no different to another club seeing them play for us and then making an offer.
“If they impress and people saw them it wouldn’t be any different to if they were spotted playing for us.
“It’s not as though we’re obligated to sign off the players to the Jamie Vardy academy, they’re going down there for a week, try to show what they’re about and then see what happens.”
White is familiar with the process of the academy scouting as three of his players from the Spennymoor Town side White was invloved in last season, Ryan Hall, Shane Henry and Glen Taylor were amongst those to take part in the Sky Show.
“The Jamie Vardy thing has happened for a couple of years now and at Spenny we had three lads that went on it.
“It didn’t affect them at all other than they went down there, had a great experience, a boost for their confidence and they had a week of seeing how things are at a professional set-up.
“They have a look at the young players in non-league, they need to be playing regularly, that’s important, and it’s up to the lads whether they want to go or not.” added White.
Credit to The Northen Echo for the imagery used in this article.