Emmanuel Onariase has become the club’s latest professional!
The official website at www.whufc.com has revealed the centre-half signed earlier this week after a top season.
Eighteen year old ‘Manny’ – who was on the bench at Arsenal – said: “I’m grateful because it’s amazing,” The club has done so much for me and I’ve improved so much here, so I just need to get to the next level now and keep on excelling.
“It’s gone from almost zero to 100 this season, but that’s football. People get injured and you’re the next in, so you have to stay on your game and always be ready.”
He is now hoping for further opportunities saying: “To be involved (against Arsenal) was amazing and I want to thank all the first-team players for making me feel welcome and creating a great atmosphere.
Writing in his regular From the Academy blog, Academy Manager Terry Westley said:“It is a fantastic achievement for him and a proud day for everyone who knows him. Of course, it’s a proud moment for everyone at the Academy and it is a sign that we are going in the right direction.
Another great signing from within the club, we have done really well to tie our best youngters down to professional contracts. If we didn’t know better we could be really excited by these kids coming through. Fingers crossed things will change….???
This is a good sign, I hope it could be the club’s change of strategy. It would, of course, be futile with Allardyce, Manny and other youth would never see the playing field. Well, we wait to see what these are going to be.
BFS OUT
* it can, not it could