Manchester United midfielder Charlie Wellens has signed his first professional contract at the club. The player turned 17 back in December and was eligible to sign a professional contract at the club, which did not happen right away and was presumably held up by the coronavirus pandemic which suspended world football mid-March.
The teenager has signed the two-year contract after a season in the U18s not even a year after signing a scholarship contract last summer. Wellens has done well in the U18s this season, playing 21 times, scoring five goals and a further three assists helping the club achieve a sixth-placed finish in the U18 Premier League after the season was cancelled last month.
Wellens is the son of Swindon Town manager, Ritche Wellens who also came through United’s academy, making his debut in 1999. The player’s father announced the news on his Twitter account, stating that his son ‘had signed for the biggest club in the world’, seemingly feeling pretty proud of his son. His tweet said:
“Twenty-three years ago I signed my first professional contract at the biggest club in the world.
“To say I’m proud to see Charlie sign his is an understatement. Well done mate it’s only the start but you deserve it.”
Wellens was training with United’s first team ahead of the trip to Kazakhstan to face Astana back in September 2019 and made his U23 debut this season, coming off the bench one, which would have been an eye opener for him, giving him a taste of the level he will need to be at to play more often. First team manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has his eye on the youth.
At the time the player was training with the first team, Nick Cox who is the head of the academy, taking over from Nicky Butt last summer after he changes roles at the club, stated that young players being involved with the first team was a regular every day occurrence at the club, which will show the players how they need to develop, learning off the first team players at the same time. He said:
“I think sometimes we get carried away, by the way. Kids training with our first-team is a day-to-day occurrence, it’s just part of the process here, it’s just what happens. At other clubs it might be the exception to the rule. Here it’s the norm.
“It’s easy to get carried away, it doesn’t mean anything. It means that a kid’s got a different learning opportunity, a different environment to train in and an experience that will hopefully help them in their journey, but we don’t get carried away.
“It’s just a thing that happens. I quite often see it pop up all over social media and it shouldn’t be something that people get too carried away with.”
Solskjaer will be keeping tabs on Wellens during the 2020/21 season, although it is not yet known when it will take place and if there will be a delay considering the your players had their seasons cancelled last month with safety the main concern. Wellens is a talented midfielder with an eye for both scoring and creating a goal.
This is the type of player that Solskjaer will be hoping makes it to the first team regularly in the future, although the player should enjoy playing U18 football whilst he can, having a taste of U23 football from time to time, which may earn him a chance in the first team in a domestic cup competition, if United are drawn against lower league opposition.
I am sure that Wellens will have seen the likes of Brandon Williams and Mason Greenwood earn their stripes in the first team and force themselves into Solskjaer’s plans during the past season based on their performances, attitude and desire to achieve things in this game. If Wellens has that same mindset, he could achieve a lot at this club.
