The benefits of Portsmouth third-year scholarships as academy crop soon to learn their futures

Mark Kelly revealed he’s set to hold talks with the young guns as the end of their apprenticeships nears.

Stan Bridgman, Tom Bruce, Harry Kavanagh, Liam Kelly, Leon Pitman, Ethan Robb, Alfie Stanley and Eoin Teggart all joined the academy in the summer of 2018.

Haji Mnoga was also part of their intake, but he signed a professional deal in December.

Despite the coronavirus suspending football until April 30, planning for next season still goes ahead.

And that means informing the fledgling talents, as well as the schoolboys who’ll be part of the next intake.

Youth boss Kelly said: ‘Our structures don’t change and we've got the second-year scholar we need to sit down and talk to.

‘That’ll be fairly soon about their futures so all of that continues and the work continues.

‘Second years need to know their future, under-16s knowing their future and how we work it – there’s a lot of detail around that and it’s all continuing.’

The youngsters PO4 will pen a third-year scholarship rather than first-year professional terms.

It was brought in two years ago, with Matt Casey and Dan Smith becoming the first two.

Last term, Leon Maloney, Brad Lethbridge, Joe Hancott, Josh Flint and Joe Dandy were kept on.

And Kelly explained the benefits of keeping players under the academy's remit for an additional year.

He added: ‘It’s very good because it's extremely flexible.

‘The boys can go out on loan but can come straight back if we have an under-23s game.

‘It’s a flexible way of working for the lads so they can get exposed to a lot of different things.

‘There are a few other clubs up and down the country that do it because you can manage it better.

‘From a business point of view, it’s more investment from us. If a first-year professional goes out on loan, then that club will pay their loan fees and all that sort of stuff.

‘With the third-year scholarships, we incur the cost but that's to have the flexibility to make it able for the lads to move in and out.

‘It works really well for us.’