Blues boss Paul Jewell says Town are likely to extend midfielder Josh Carson’s two-year contract when he turns 18 in June. The Northern Irish youngster quietly signed his first professional deal last summer after impressing in his first year as an academy scholar at Playford Road.
Jewell says the club will look to offer him improved terms but only if he earns them: "We’ll look to extend it, providing he carries on as he is. I remember the Leighton Baines scenario at Wigan.
"When I signed Leighton I brought his mum and dad in and told them that I wasn’t going to give him a lot of money but if he does well we’ll give him a new contract.
"He did well and we gave him a new contract, he did well again and we gave him another new contract. And by the time I left, I won’t tell you what he was on, but he was on an awful lot more than when he started.”
The Blues manager says youngsters can suffer if they are given too much too soon: "If you give players a nice easy contract too early it can work against them subconsciously. The next thing they’ve got a new car in the car park and a new bird on their arm.
"I want them to have that hunger and if you have that hunger, the rewards will come, rather than the rewards coming before they actually do something. Especially with young players I think that works better.
"Not with all young players, though. If you’ve got young players who are being chased by huge clubs you can’t do that because you have to protect your club,” he added.
"But I’m happy for their parents to trust me as a manager that if they do well they won’t have to come looking for us, we’ll come looking for them.”