3/1 To Win
The 2017/18 season saw four Derby County academy players make their first-team debuts.
Kellan Gordon, Callum Guy, Max Bird and Luke Thomas made strides in their young careers after getting their first call up to the Rams’ senior squad.
Thomas picked up the club’s Young Player of the Year award after making two league appearances.
The 19-year-old was named to the matchday squad for the clash with Leeds United in October and the following week ran out under lights at Pride Park Stadium for the first time as a senior player against Queens Park Rangers.
Gordon’s moment came in the final 15 minutes of the Carabao Cup first-round clash against Grimsby Town. He was joined by his Under-23 team-mate Timi Max Elsnik.
It was Elsnik’s third appearance for the first-team after making his debut the season prior. The following week, the pair were sent on loan to League Two side Swindon Town where between them they made almost 50 appearances.
Speaking to RamsTV, Academy Director Darren Wassall said: “The pathway and the opportunity is certainly there. Of course, all the players would like to have more opportunities but they must create them as well.
“We know we have a big first team squad, so the likes of Callum Guy and Kellan Gordon who made their first-team debuts in the League Cup earlier in the year have both had really successful loans as well.”
Six days before his 17th birthday, Bird was penned into the starting XI for the second-round Carabao Cup match against Barnsley.
Following his debut, in which he played 80 minutes, his team-mates and staff had high praise for the teenager’s composure. Bird was replaced by fellow debutant, Guy, for the final 10 minutes in the 3-2 defeat to the Tykes.
For the remainder of the season the central midfielder continued to play above his age in Wassall’s Under-23 side, making 13 appearances and scoring in the Rams’ 3-1 victory against Everton at Goodison Park.
Wassall said: “Max Bird proved this year if you are good enough it doesn’t matter how old you are and he has made his first-team debut as an Under-17 scholar.
“It just proves that you have to keep looking forward in football and the experiences that you have gained this year will hopefully hold the players in good stead for next year.”
Each season presents another opportunity for a young player to strengthen their C.V. and put their talents on show to move forward in their career.
As the players departed for their summer breaks, Wassall left them with some food for thought.
“The message we have sent home with them is: ‘you have to make sure, like you did last year, that you come back for pre-season in great shape, believe in yourself and give yourself the best opportunity of getting in to that first-team squad.’
“It will be a massive year for a lot of the players, whether they are going into their third-year professional contracts or whether they are second or even first-year scholars.
“For me pre-season is a land of opportunity, it’s a time where everybody starts a fresh and everybody has an equal opportunity impressing the first-team manager to say, ‘I want to get in your squad.’”
