Wigan Athletic academy manager Jake Campbell has expressed his excitement after the club signed professional terms with teenage sensation Elijah Igiehon.
Wigan Athletic are looking forward to an exciting 2024/25 season following a successful first season back in League One.
The Latics recovered impressively after starting the season with minus eight points, rising all the way to 12th in the third-tier table.
Shaun Maloney’s side won 20 of their 46 league games despite the deduction, indicating that they were a significantly superior club than their mid-table status suggests.
It has fans eager about what the following season may bring. The team hopes to bring in some new faces while keeping the services of its important players.
However, it has now been announced that a promising young player has committed his future to Wigan Athletic.
The Latics announced Wednesday morning that adolescent Elijah Ihiegon has signed his first professional deal with the club. It follows an excellent few years in the academy ranks, preparing him for the next chapter in his bright career.
Big praise from Campbell
Ihiegon has yet to make his first-team debut, thus some Wigan Athletic supporters may not be familiar with him.
However, academy manager Jake Campbell’s statements should pique fans’ interest in what their prodigy has in store for the future.
Campbell expressed his enthusiasm for Ihiegon’s ability in an interview with the club’s official website shortly after his professional contract was announced.
He said: “We are ecstatic to see Elijah sign his first professional deal with the club.
“Since joining our Academy at U13s, Elijah has been a consistently high performer, and he has taken this progress into the first year of his apprenticeship, performing well for the U18s and U21s.
“Elijah is an explosive wide player who mixes speed and agility with ball control to get past players on either side. He complements this with a high-quality finished product, and we are all anxious to see what the future holds for him.”
The path to the first-team
Ihiegon and his academy teammates will be heartened by the amount of young squad players who have progressed to first-team roles at Wigan Athletic in recent years.
Sam Tickle and Charlie Hughes have emerged as two of the EFL’s most promising young players since making their professional debuts, while Thelo Asgaard and Baba Adeeko have also gained consistent playing time.
Ihiegon, who signed a professional contract with the side, will be among those seeking to follow in their footsteps.
Those at Wigan Athletic appear enthused about what the future holds for the possibility, so with a good summer, it will be interesting to see if Ihiegon can break into the senior team over the next year or so as he continues to develop in the north west.
