Conor McLeod’s journey through the academy has been rewarded with a first professional contract.
The 17-year-old is the latest local talent to rise through the Compton Park ranks and put pen-to-paper with the Old Gold.
McLeod, who penned a two-year scholarship in the summer, first joined Wolves at the age of just six and has been with the club for more than a decade.
Comfortable as an attacking midfielder or out wide, McLeod is the younger brother of under-21s striker Ethan who also signed his first professional deal at the start of the year.
McLeod is a regular within Richard Walker’s under-18s and has even had opportunities to impress at under-21 level, making his debut while he was still only a 15-year-old schoolboy.
Academy manager for football, Jon Hunter-Barrett, has expressed his delight at securing McLeod’s future and said: “It’s a proud moment for Conor, his family and for the staff. Conor’s been here a very long time so to be rewarded with this on his 17th birthday is definitely something that we’re delighted with.
“Supporters and people connected with the football club always want to see local boys come through and get rewarded with a professional contract. Ultimately, the hard work is going to be down to Conor now as to how much he maximises getting his deal.
“Looking in, people outside will always have the vision of the journey being very linear and I think it’s very rarely, if ever, linear. For Conor, he’s had quite a lot of different challenges, but nothing he’s not had the character and support network to overcome.”
Hunter-Barrett has also been pleased with the impact McLeod has made in matches in recent months, including as recently as last Saturday, where he superbly netted the second goal in the under-18s 4-1 victory against Liverpool and he is keen to see him maintain that level of consistency and improvement.
“That’s the type of player Conor is,” Hunter-Barrett continued. “He’s the type of player who has the ability to impact the game – whether that be with key passes, key dribbles, shots or even goals. We saw that for the under-18s against Liverpool in their final league game of the year.
“I’m delighted to see that he’s been able to put together those performances and show that he’s got that consistency.
“For Conor now, it’s going to be making sure he maintains that consistency, making sure he improves on the areas he maybe finds a bit difficult, as with any player, and most importantly that he keeps becoming a better version of himself.”
