Luton Town is delighted to announce that it has signed six youth players who will join the club full time in July 2009 once they finish their GCSE's.

These talented youngsters will be following in the footsteps of players like Curtis Davies, Matthew Upson, Kevin Foley, Leon Barnett and Ryan Charles - all of whom are now professional footballers, with Curtis and Matthew just having been named in the England squad.

The six youngsters currently play in the Under 15/16 side at the Hatters Centre of Excellence and have shown that they have the talent and attitude to progress towards their dream of playing at professional level.

Youth Team manager Alan Neilson commented "This group represents the future of the Youth Team, and hopefully the First team in years to come. All six boys have already represented the Under 18's, playing against players up to five years older than them. I had no hesitation in recommending to the Mick Harford that we offered them scholarships immediately even though we didn't have to commit until March 2009. The manager always comes to watch the group play and has shown his faith by already including scholars Jordan Patrick and Mark Farthing in the first team this season after picking Charles, Howells, Beavan and Asafe-Adjaye last season whilst they were still scholars".

Luton Town has a clear focus on developing youth talent. As Gary Sweet, md of the club explained, "Developing youth is a key cornerstone of our 2020 vision. As a club we have always stood above the competition on the quality of our youth development and coaching and it is intrinsic to the success of Luton Town that we rebuild this key area after years of neglect. We are delighted for the six players who now know that they have a future with our club. They can concentrate on their exams knowing that we will be welcoming them come next July. We wish them every success in their development and hope that someday they can represent their club and country."

All the lads are local with Ashcroft High School gaining a hat-trick of signings. Cardinal Newman School also continue their footballing tradition (after their U-15 girls won a national cup earlier this year) with one signing.

The six players are:
1. Christian Tavernier, 16, midfield, from Ashcroft High School.
2. Fabio Bufano, 16, defender, from Cardinal Newman School.
3. Jordan Patrick, 16, striker, from Challney High School.
4. Matthew Harriot, 16, midfield, also from Ashcroft High School.
5. Newman Carney, 14, defender, another player from Ashcroft High School.
6. Ryan Da Silva, 15, winger, from Icknield High School.

The players know that there is a lot of hard work ahead of them, but they have proved so far that they are not shy of the challenges they face.