Town have announced the names of the youngsters who will be starting two-year full-time scholarships at the academy in July. The 11-man list includes two French youngsters recruited after they impressed on trial.

Keeper Toby Egan has been with the club since the age of 14, while full-back Dylan Crowe joined the Blues aged 12 and has won England caps in the last couple of seasons.

Defender Ashton Henry has been with the academy since the U10s, while Luca Vega, a left-sided defender who qualifies to play for Italy, has been with the club since he was seven.

Bailey Clements is another left-sided defender who has been with the Blues, his local club, since he was seven. Clements has been a regular in the U18s this season and skippers the U16s.

Henry Barley is an attacking left-sided player, who was a member of the club’s development programme before joining the academy at 12.

Harlow-based Kian Ronan, a right-back or midfielder, has been with Town since he was eight years old. He has won U17 international caps with Gibraltar, where his mother and grandparents were born.

French duo Idris El Mizouni, a defender, and Lounes Foudil, a versatile midfielder, were both offered scholarships after impressing in trial spells with the club.

Goalscoring midfielder Armando Dobra joined Town from the Essex-based Finesse Football Academy as an U15.

Local boy Thomas Hughes, an attacking midfielder who also plays up front, has been with the academy since he was seven.

The youngsters, who were involved in last night's Hospital Cup defeat to Norwich, were at Portman Road again this morning to be officially welcomed to the club by academy manager Lee O'Neill and MD Ian Milne, who showed them around the ground and hosted a lunch.

Photo: ITFC

bigolconnor added 13:49 - Apr 21 Good luck young men
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Marcus added 13:57 - Apr 21 Congrats and welcome to the new scholars. It's a very steep learning curve and let's all look forward to some of them knocking on the first team door before too long. We the right guidance we can mould a much stronger squad by developing youngsters.
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MaySixth added 14:46 - Apr 21 SPOT THE FRENCH KIDS (FAR RIGHT) No political pun intended
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Seasider added 15:53 - Apr 21 Good luck lads! You will need that especially at this club where it is more difficult to get in the first team than at Man Utd(Marcus Rashford) or Tottenham(Harry Kane etc)
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jas0999 added 17:24 - Apr 21 I wish them well!
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tractorkent added 03:09 - Apr 22 As long as none of. You show any flair or vision you'll be fine under M!😀
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runaround added 08:05 - Apr 22 Would be brilliant to see some of these lads in the first team in 5 or 6 years
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battyblue added 14:05 - Apr 22 runaround) should be possible as long as MM is long gone otherwise no chance.
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runningout added 19:25 - Apr 24 Hope they can bring the good times back.
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dirtydingusmagee added 11:17 - Apr 27 good luck them ,they will need it.
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