Blues boss Mick McCarthy says striker Ben Morris is making progress having been handed a new contract along with fellow 18-year-old Tristan Nydam during the international break.
Colchester-born Morris signed a deal which runs to the summer of 2019 with the club having an option for a further season, while Nydam put pen to paper on a contract until 2021, again with the club having an option for an additional year.
Morris’s only first-team appearance so far came as a sub in the Carabao Cup tie at Crystal Palace in August and McCarthy says he’s a little way behind midfield pair Nydam and Flynn Downes at present.
"Everybody can see that Tristan is progressing and everybody knows what I think of him, I’ve spoken very highly of him always,” McCarthy said.
"And Ben Morris equally, I think he is progressing, not quite as much as Flynn and Tristan have done, but then again he plays at that rarified end of the pitch where he’s got to score goals, but he does that and he does that in training.
"He’s getting better, he’s getting bigger and stronger and more physically able to cope with that and he’s a goalscorer.”
He added: "The pathway [into the first team] is there. I’ve been asked in the past about youngsters, about the academy and I’ve always said, if we’ve got players who are good enough I’ll play them.
"That’s not been the case, to be honest with you. Not on a regular basis. We’re just having a really good time with them now.
"There’s Teddy Bishop as well, of course, who came through a bit like Flynn and Tristan and everybody went ‘Wow!’ when he was playing, so it would be great to get him back. But the academy is flourishing at the moment.”
Morris, who has been capped by England at U17 and U18 levels, has scored three times for the U23s this season, having netted 12 times for Gerard Nash's side last term.