Aaron Connolly named PL2 Player of the Season
There was a timely reminder of some of the bright young talents potentially awaiting whoever Brighton and Hove Albion’s new manager may be with the news that Aaron Connolly has won the Premier League 2 Player of the Season award.
The Irishman fought off stiff competition to take the honour of effectively being named the best Under 23 squad player in the England, beating the likes of Arsenal’s Eddie Nketiah, Everton’s Bassala Sambou and Morgan Feeney, Rafael Camacho of Liverpool, Ellias Sorensen from Newcastle United, Adam Idah of Norwich City, Daniel Loader from Reading and Southampton’s Will Smallbone to the award.
Even more impressive is that Connolly is just 19 years of age, making him one of the younger players in a league in which he could technically be eligible to play in for another four years.
Connolly finished as PL2’s top goalscorer with 11 goals and that was despite missing half the season through a combination of injury and a loan spell with Luton Town.
He picked up a hamstring problem in January which then ruled him out until April, after which he made brief substitute appearance for the Hatters as they claimed the League One title.
Connolly notched a further six goals in the Premier League International Cup and the Checkatradeeeeeee Checkatrade.com Trophy to finish the season with a total haul of an impressive 17 from 20 appearances.
As a result, he received four PL2 Player of the Month nominations in the first four months of the season, becoming the first Albion player to win the award in November.
His form hasn’t gone unnoticed either. Bundesliga side Hoffenheim were said to be interested in Connolly late last year as German clubs continue to look to snap up the best talented young players from England with the promise of more first team opportunities to aid their development, as Jadon Sancho at Borussia Dortmund, Ademola Lookman at Red Bull Leipzig and Reiss Nelson at Hoffeinheim themselves have already benefited from.
Connolly was also said to be on the radar of both Manchester City and Manchester United before he eventually signed a new three-and-a-half year deal in January to remain at the Amex until the summer of 2022.
Before his injury problems and move to Kenilworth Road, Chris Hughton had named Connolly in his travelling party for a handful of away games including the 2-1 defeat to Cardiff City in November. He is still yet to be named in the matchday 18 for a Premier League match however, Viktor Gyokeres being preferred on each occasion that both him and Connolly had travelled.
Despite his tender years, there are some Albion fans who will be hoping to see him in the first team squad ahead in the 2019-20. This award will only add fuel to that fire whilst one of the biggest changes that Dan Ashworth must surely be looking to ring is for more academy graduates to progress to the first team.
In his four-and-a-half-years in charge, Hughton only gave league debuts to two academy players and both of those were brief substitute appearance. James Tilley was handed a few minutes in a dead rubber away at Middlesbrough on the final day of the 2014-15 season and Rob Hunt was forced on away at Burton Albion in September 2016 due to injury.
Solly March remains the last youth team player to become a first team regular six seasons ago now. The fact that Connolly has been named the best development squad player in the country suggests that the talent is there, although it is still a huge step up from PL2 to Premier League and it would take a bold and brave manager to trust a 19-year-old to make it.
Perhaps that is what Tony Bloom is looking for.
