A dozen Academy players join traveling squad for Astana

Today at 11:14 PM

Opportunities

Twenty players have made the long, 8-hour journey from London to Almaty in Kazakhstan to play Astana tonight in the UEFA Conference League, with the majority of the first-team squad staying behind at Cobham.

In fact, over half the twenty are classified as Academy players, some of whom we've seen regularly this season already, some of whom we've seen in seasons past, and some, whom we've never seen before with the first team.

Among that latter category are the trio of Richard Olise, Kaiden Wilson, and Ato Ampah, who join Tyrique George, Sam Rak-Sakyi, Shim Mheuka, Kiano Dyer, and Harrison Murray-Campbell, as well as goalkeeper Lucas Bergstöm and Max Merrick. And there's a welcome return for Harvey Vale, who already has five senior appearance to his name from way back when in the 2021-22 season, as well as Josh Acheampong, whose contract situation is still unresolved but appears to be trending in the right direction.

Presumably the eight first-teamers in the team will be starting (including Chukwuemeka!).

GOALKEEPERS: Jörgensen, Bergström, Merrick

DEFENDERS: Disasi, Tosin, Veiga, Acheampong, Murray-Campbell, Olise, Wilson

MIDFIELDERS: Chukwuemeka, Dewsbury-Hall, Dyer, Rak-Sakyi, Vale

FORWARDS: Neto, Ampah, George, Guiu, Mheuka