Ebbsfleet United’s Academy is looking to build on an excellent 2020/21 season as it holds three trial dates for new recruits for the forthcoming 2021/22 season.
Despite the interruptions to the football programme of the Covid-19 lockdown, the Academy side saw numerous U19s train alongside the first-team squad, the players gaining huge experience of senior football as they learned from and worked alongside manager Dennis Kutrieb and his squad of professionals.
Goalkeeper Jack Moore, along with Issa Sidibe, Warren Beattie and Emilio Regini-Moran, all participated fully in first-team training weeks and played in friendlies against National League or National League South opposition. And there was also a significant breakthrough for another Academy goalkeeper in Harrison Firth who was registered for National League duty and played a full part in the first team’s end-of-season friendly programme, getting a full 90 minutes against clubs including Brentford B and also gaining valuable and significant game time versus QPR, Wycombe Wanderers, Sutton United and others.
The three recruitment days, all running from 10am – 12pm, will take place on Saturday 22nd May, Tuesday 1st June and Saturday 19th June at Elite Venue, Gravesend. To secure your place, you MUST REGISTER first at wordpress-510377-4642437.cloudwaysapps.com/academy/apply-now. For more information about the day and process, or anything related to our academy and youth football, please email [email protected]. Applicants should be aged 16–18 years old.
The Ebbsfleet United Academy offers full-time BTEC Level 3 education (equivalent to 3 A-levels) including English and maths, alongside the football instruction delivered by UEFA-qualified coaches. The team participates in the U19 National League and FA Youth Cup with benefits including first-team pathways, bespoke team kits, Playertek GPS analysis, video performance analysis, individual development plans and physio & rehab. A brand new training ground is also currently under construction.
Academy manager Daniel Gill said, “[First-team manager] Dennis Kutrieb has got a big focus on trying to develop youth players. Ever since he’s come in, he’s been very, very supportive and proactive in terms of what we do here at the Academy. He’s visited and held training sessions with the U15s as well so it’s a philosophy that goes right down our age groups. When our Academy boys go in with the senior squad, they don’t just go in for a session to make up the numbers. They go in for a week, the first-team players around them treat them the same. Nobody’s treated any differently whether they’re Academy boys or senior first-team players.
“This season we’ve had some great sessions and access for a number of our players with the first-team and boys like Harrison Firth have developed so much as a consequence of that experience. The first-team played a friendly at the end of the season and it was a really proud moment for the Academy when we had both of our goalkeepers playing in either half alongside the first team.
“Now we’re looking ahead to 2021/22 and we want to build on what our players achieved personally, what they achieved within the Academy programme and what they achieved in stepping up to a first-team environment, really push that pathway to progress all the way to the first-team. The recruitment days and trials we’ve got coming up in the next few weeks are part and parcel of that, so I’d urge any young players with ambitions to sign up now with Ebbsfleet United.”
