Brentford are planning to reopen their academy six years after its controversial closure.
The club shut their category two academy and withdrew from the game’s elite player performance plan in 2016, opting instead to focus their youth development on players aged between 17 and 21, as they felt that approach was a better use of their limited resources at the time.
Brentford’s change of heart is the result of their improved financial circumstances following promotion and the fact that the Premier League are considering changing their rules to make academies compulsory.
In addition, the impact of Brexit has made Brentford’s existing model of recruiting talented teenagers, primarily from Scandinavia, less effective.