McCarthy: Dozzell and Blanchfield Could Get Their Chance This Season Saturday, 5th Mar 2016 06:00 Town boss Mick McCarthy says youngsters such as Andre Dozzell and James Blanchfield, who travelled with the first team squad to Huddersfield last week, could get their chance before the end of the season. Central midfielders Dozzell, 16, and Blanchfield, 18, made the trip to West Yorkshire having been handed squad numbers and McCarthy says the idea was to get them settled in with the senior side just in case they are required with several midfield players having been injured of late. England U17 international skipper Dozzell, the son of former Blue Jason, came through the academy ranks and is a first-year scholar, while Blanchfield is a second year, having been with Arsenal’s youth set-up before joining the Blues in July 2014, after spending time on trial with Manchester United. “I took them with a view that they could be around the first team - they’re training with the first team - if needed because we are getting a bit thin on the ground, so it wouldn’t be such a surprise if they were selected or on the bench and they came on,” McCarthy said. “They’ve been training well. Andre’s trained with us all week, as have Adam McDonnell, Josh Emmanuel, as he has for most of the season, along with Myles Kenlock. We’ve got some of the lads in from the academy, it’s great seeing them.” The Town boss says Dozzell isn’t too far away from the first team, although with his 17th birthday on May 2nd he’s already older than his dad was when he made his debut aged 16 years and 57 days and became the youngest-ever scorer in the top flight, a record he still holds. “I would say he’s close,” the Town boss added. “Whether it’s the time for him now, I don’t think so. “Certainly, and I hope it doesn’t happen, if the season ends up where we can’t get in the play-offs, I’m hoping that’s not the case, but if it was the case I would be looking at giving some of those a game and seeing what they can do for next season. “But I’m hoping they don’t get anywhere near the team and we’re vying for the play-offs right to the very end. “Andre’s just a very talented midfield player. He has the ability to spot a pass, his passing range is good, short and long. “He can drift past people, a bit like Bish, he’s got all those qualities as a midfield player.” McCarthy says Dozzell far from the only talented central midfield player coming through the ranks, citing Blanchfield, McDonnell - who made his senior debut at Doncaster in the Capital One Cup - and Kundai Benyu, who has just returned to training after four months out with bone bruising to his knee. “There are a few others as well, James Blanchfield, Kundai Benyu, we shouldn’t forget him,” he continued. “He looked like he was going to be the one that would get in the team and he’s playing a bit of the U18s game on Saturday and might play a bit of the U21s game on Monday. “I think we’re blessed with good midfield players and hopefully they all come through and become pros and long-term prospects for the first team.
“Adam McDonnell’s another one that’s in the squad and might be on the bench and in line if we have problems between now and the end of the season with the squad. “He’s training really well. I think he would be a good addition to somebody’s squad lower down the leagues [on loan] but I can’t make him go out, somebody’s got to come and ask, somebody’s got to see him and taking a liking to him.” Blanchfield was one of six youngsters handed their first professional contracts last week - Dozzell, Benyu and McDonnell previously having agreed pro deals - along with George Fowler, Monty Patterson, Chris Smith, Shane McLoughlin and Jacob Marsden. McCarthy hopes they’ll progress on into the first team at Town, but if not elsewhere: “They sign full of hope and optimism and looking forward to the future and we all hope that they go on to be long-term pros with us and get in the first team. “But as we all know that’s a difficult process and not too many do. If that doesn’t happen with us I hope they have careers elsewhere, that they end up being professional footballers elsewhere and it’ll mean that we will have done a good job, even if they don’t reach this standard. “It’s a lofty standard that we’re working at, despite the fact that there’s the Premier League above us. We’re next in line and it’s pretty demanding to become a pro footballer and then progress and be a Championship player for the rest of your life. It’s a good standard to play at.” Back in 2013 Town announced the aim of having 50 per cent of first team players having come through the academy. Reflecting on the make-up of the current side, McCarthy added: “Tommy Smith would be in the team and I guess Bish would have every chance if he was fit, Luke Hyam’s got a chance, that’s only three out of the XI. “If you’re talking about 50 per cent of them on the pitch, that’s a pretty good hit if I could do that. “But I do see the lads, the midfield players I’ve just talked about, at the level they’re at, they’re really special players. Whether they can all become special players in the first team, time will tell. But they’ve all got a really good chance.” While the six youngsters were offered contracts, 17-year-old striker Sam Ford wasn’t handed terms but has joined West Ham on a two-year professional deal having impressed in a trial. McCarthy wishes Ford well for the future and revealed that Town would receive some cash should the former Felixstowe Academy pupil makes it with the Hammers. “We’re safeguarded a little bit with the deal if he does [become a success] and plays in their team.” West Ham described Ford as a “highly-rated striker” when they announced his signing earlier in the week but McCarthy says he and the rest of the Blues’ staff didn’t see him making the first-team squad at Portman Road. “It’s strange, isn’t it? You release a player, somebody else takes him. Have I ever taken a player in and said he was crap? No, I haven’t. “If I take somebody in, what are you going to ask me, ‘What can he offer?’, ‘Well, he’s really highly-rated, he’s terrific,’. I’m never going to say anything else, it’s got to be positive. “I’m not saying he’s a bad player, he wasn’t going to get in our first team here, in my view and in everybody else’s view. That’s not just me making a one-off decision, that was everybody.”
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