ACF Posted 7 October 2011 Share Posted 7 October 2011 Seventeen-year-old striker Tom Hopper has become the latest young player from the Leicester City academy to agree professional terms with the Foxes. The Lincolnshire-born forward, currently in the second year of his apprenticeship, has signed his first professional contract with the Foxes, keeping him at King Power Stadium until June 2013. Leicester City Academy Director Jon Rudkin said: "Congratulations to Tom in attaining his first professional contract - it is a reward for his excellent performances and attitude towards his development and we hope it is the first of many. "Tom and his family should be very proud of his achievement, but he will understand this is just the first rung on the ladder of his career. His focus will now be on trying to make the most of this opportunity and extend his time with the Club, by keeping his feet on the ground and pushing towards senior recognition in the future." A tall, intelligent striker and the captain of this season's Youth Team, Tom joined the City academy as a 16-year-old following a spell with Boston United. He was spotted by City scouts playing for the Pilgrims against Leicester Schools in a match at nearby Holmes Park. After an impressive first year as an apprentice, where he formed an formidable strike-partnership with Jeff Schlupp, Tom started his second year with a bang - scoring a hat-trick in the Under-18s' 4-1 win over Nottingham Forest before netting a winning goal for the reserves against Derby County the following week. He becomes the first player of this season's Under-18 group to agree a pro deal with the Club. "The target for every player within the academy is to reach a level where they can represent the Club at first team level," Jon Rudkin added. "While Tom still has some much work to do to achieve this ambition, his signing is further evidence of the Club rewarding its young players and giving them the opportunities to continue on that pathway." Link. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxhateram Posted 7 October 2011 Share Posted 7 October 2011 Seventeen-year-old striker Tom Hopper has become the latest young player from the Leicester City academy to agree professional terms with the Foxes. The Lincolnshire-born forward, currently in the second year of his apprenticeship, has signed his first professional contract with the Foxes, keeping him at King Power Stadium until June 2013. Leicester City Academy Director Jon Rudkin said: "Congratulations to Tom in attaining his first professional contract - it is a reward for his excellent performances and attitude towards his development and we hope it is the first of many. "Tom and his family should be very proud of his achievement, but he will understand this is just the first rung on the ladder of his career. His focus will now be on trying to make the most of this opportunity and extend his time with the Club, by keeping his feet on the ground and pushing towards senior recognition in the future." A tall, intelligent striker and the captain of this season's Youth Team, Tom joined the City academy as a 16-year-old following a spell with Boston United. He was spotted by City scouts playing for the Pilgrims against Leicester Schools in a match at nearby Holmes Park. After an impressive first year as an apprentice, where he formed an formidable strike-partnership with Jeff Schlupp, Tom started his second year with a bang - scoring a hat-trick in the Under-18s' 4-1 win over Nottingham Forest before netting a winning goal for the reserves against Derby County the following week. He becomes the first player of this season's Under-18 group to agree a pro deal with the Club. "The target for every player within the academy is to reach a level where they can represent the Club at first team level," Jon Rudkin added. "While Tom still has some much work to do to achieve this ambition, his signing is further evidence of the Club rewarding its young players and giving them the opportunities to continue on that pathway." Link. Good on him, hopefully he can become part of a strong striker force in the not to distant future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fox92 Posted 7 October 2011 Share Posted 7 October 2011 Good news. Hopefully he can turn out to be something. His reports sound promosing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tielemans63 Posted 7 October 2011 Share Posted 7 October 2011 He scored a hat-trick against Forest and the winner against Derby? He's a City legend already! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Weasel Fox Posted 7 October 2011 Share Posted 7 October 2011 He scored a hat-trick against Forest and the winner against Derby? He's a City legend already! This Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schlupp Posted 7 October 2011 Share Posted 7 October 2011 Get in,I've got a good feeling about this lad tbh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ambitious Posted 7 October 2011 Share Posted 7 October 2011 Wasn't rudkin the guy, who recommended some of the players, that played a big part in our relegation to the third tier for the first time in our history??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Doctor Posted 8 October 2011 Share Posted 8 October 2011 Wasn't rudkin the guy, who recommended some of the players, that played a big part in our relegation to the third tier for the first time in our history??? He was joint care-taker for 1 match so not really - he's been involved with the club for years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottthefox Posted 8 October 2011 Share Posted 8 October 2011 Tom was a couple of years below at Skegness Grammar School so I can comment that he is a really nice and genuine lad as well as a quality footballer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Babylon Posted 8 October 2011 Share Posted 8 October 2011 Wasn't rudkin the guy, who recommended some of the players, that played a big part in our relegation to the third tier for the first time in our history??? No, you're thinking of the guy who came from boro. He was their chief European scout and gave us legends such as Sergio Hellings and Ricky Sappleton. He was then shown the door for either being shit or the rumours of him allegedly liking strip clubs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corky Posted 8 October 2011 Share Posted 8 October 2011 Wasn't rudkin the guy, who recommended some of the players, that played a big part in our relegation to the third tier for the first time in our history??? As Academy coach? The Academy players who played that season were Stearman, and to a lesser extent Mattock and King. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miquel The Work Geordie Posted 8 October 2011 Share Posted 8 October 2011 No, you're thinking of the guy who came from boro. He was their chief European scout and gave us legends such as Sergio Hellings and Ricky Sappleton. He was then shown the door for either being shit or the rumours of him allegedly liking strip clubs. Don McKay? Lil Fuccillo? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoustonFox Posted 9 October 2011 Share Posted 9 October 2011 Always good to see another lad coming through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panky and our gang Posted 9 October 2011 Share Posted 9 October 2011 Yes especially as he had a great understanding up front with Jeff Schlupp . It would be fantastic if we had two young strikers come through at about the same time . Well done Tom . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col city fan Posted 9 October 2011 Share Posted 9 October 2011 Wasn't rudkin the guy, who recommended some of the players, that played a big part in our relegation to the third tier for the first time in our history??? He's the youth teams senior coach and has been around for donkeys ages. Whether Tom gets a chance or not will depend on Sven, not on Rudkin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ambitious Posted 9 October 2011 Share Posted 9 October 2011 But Rudkin has recommended many graduates to the management that have turned out to be a waste of space, i.e. some of the players that were part of our squad in 2007/2008 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narborough_fox Posted 9 October 2011 Share Posted 9 October 2011 But Rudkin has recommended many graduates to the management that have turned out to be a waste of space, i.e. some of the players that were part of our squad in 2007/2008 Rudkin doesn't reccomend them it's upto the manager who he picks to give a contract to out of the academy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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