Blues boss Paul Jewell has revealed that young right-back Callum Bennett will be offered a one-year contract. The Blues boss says that youngsters such as Bennett and Luke Hyam, who recently signed a one-year deal of his own, will receive further rewards as they make progress.
Bennett, who also plays in midfield and at centre-half, was told he would be given professional terms last week, while the rest of this season’s second-year scholars — with the exception of Joe Whight who signed a two-year contract last summer and Nicolay Schrøder whose scholarship has been extended until January — will leave the club at the end of the season.
Jewell says telling youngsters they won’t be kept on is the most difficult aspect of management, although this year Academy manager Sammy Morgan and U18s coach Russell Osman offered to take on the responsibility: "It’s the first time I haven’t had to break the bad news. I was quite pleased when they said they were going to do it.
"We’re pleased for Callum. He’s worked hard, as they all have. One of the young lads came in to see me today and I had a long chat with him.
"It’s a really tough time, it’s the worst part of the job when you see kids whose aspirations and dreams can almost be shattered.
"But the football world is full of people who have been rejected at an early age and have gone on to have great careers.
"We’ll try and do everything we can to help those lads who have been released to get other clubs and at the same time we congratulate Callum.
"I think it’ll just be a year’s contract. If people are doing well, as we showed with Joe Whight last year, we reward them.”
The Blues boss says Bennett and other young players will come into his first team thoughts during the remaining weeks of the season but only on merit: "He’s got a hamstring injury at the moment but he’s got a chance like everybody else if he’s fit. And he might not be the only youngster that gets a go.
"But I don’t just want to throw people in. People have to earn the right to play in the first team. It’s a privilege to play in the first team, but we’ve got high hopes for Callum.”
The Town boss’s decision to give midfielder Luke Hyam only a one-year contract extension has come in for criticism but Jewell says that like Bennett, Whight and Aaron Cresswell, whose deal was extended in October, the 20-year-old will be rewarded for making progress: "There’s always criticism whatever you do.
"Cressy came in and he did well and we extended his contract and we want to do that, we want to keep people hungry and we want to reward them when they’re doing well.
"Luke’s done really well. We’re really pleased with him but he’s still pretty new to the set-up, certainly since I’ve been here. We’ll monitor that situation and we’ll reward him as and when.”
Jewell also confirmed that contrary to previous reports, Northern Irish midfielder Cormac Burke has another year left on his contract after this season.