Cheltenham Town have produced an array of talent over the years including the likes of Luke Thomas, now at Bristol Rovers, Salford City and former Millwall striker Matt Smith, Marley Watkins who plays in Scotland for Kilmarnock and many more.
This leads to the question, who is there to look out for in the new up and coming flock of youngsters?
Here are five Young Robins to keep an eye out for in the coming years.
Tom King
This name may already ring a bell, as Tom King was already on the radar of England u18 manager Ryan Garry who called up King to the Young Lions squad in early October for the World Cup warm-up tournament in Marbella.
King is an agile forward who possesses bursts of pace in attack and has been a shining light in Dave Palmer’s under 18 Robins team, making cameos in League One, EFL Cup and the EFL Trophy with the first team as well.
Following the u18s triumph over Bristol Rovers in the FA Youth Cup a few weeks ago, he scored the decisive goal to send Cheltenham through to the next round, even his childhood coach Simon Bean fancies his chances to play for Barcelona!
Freddy Willcox
A midfield maestro who is on the rise in the academy, Willcox has been a key figure in the academy side over the past few seasons, making short cameos in League One in games at home to Charlton and Stevenage and showed an impressive spark in pre-season for The Robins scoring a brace in a 6-0 win over Swindon Supermarine.
Showing strong professionalism from his spells with the first team which has been incorporated into his academy games, Willcox is a player seen to be a leader in the group of Young Robins, he has also featured for Evesham United this year on loan impressing first team manager Mike Ford.
Known for strong set-pieces and a wide range of passes in the middle of the park, Willcox is certainly part of a promising batch of players which has risen to the surface for Darrell Clarke.
Cameron Walters
With a forward and a midfielder, the variety continues with Cameron Walters, a hard hitting centre-back is exactly what Cheltenham need in there future, with the 17 year old previously being The Robins’ youngest ever player at 16 years old.
Walters is yet to make his league debut but has appeared in EFL Trophy on three occasions and also scored in pre-season versus Evesham.
Walters is pushing to get the first league start and looks to join defenders who have suceeded through the academy such as former academy prospect Will Armitage who has gone on to join Southampton.
Brandon Liggett
17-year-old Brandon Liggett is another professional at such a young age, he captains the under 18s and featured in the EFL Trophy last Tuesday making his debut for the club but has shown leadership in previous FA Youth Cup campaigns and has featured thus far after their 2-1 victory over Bristol Rovers.
Liggett is a defensive midfielder who makes strong challenges and conducts play well in the midfield for Palmer’s men, he’s had loan spells over at Cinderford Town, Swindon Supermarine and is currently on loan at Hungerford Town gaining the experience at such a young age.
Sopuruchukwu Obieri
The most recent academy prospect is a record breaker, at just 15 years of age, Obieri made his debut off the bench last Tuesday becoming Cheltenham Town’s youngest ever player, Clarke has shown faith in him and expect to see more of this in the future.
Known for his strong presence at the top of the pitch, Obieri has that clinical edge needed for any team, and with a great eye for goal he looks a very promising youngster.
Being one of the younger players in the academy he is starting to find his feet and with his first team debut coming at just 15 there’s a lot more to come.
