STARLET LANDS A SWANS’ DEAL
CRAIG ELLIOTT is delighted to have retained the services of top talent Tom Withers from the clutches of the Premier League – even if he isn’t quite ready for the Boston United first team!
The 6ft 4in centre-back completed a dream move to top-flight Swansea City this week on an 18-month deal but will return to the Pilgrims to spend the rest of the season on loan.
Withers, who has been in Boston’s youth system for the past two years, will continue his development at York Street before linking up with the Swans’ youth ranks in the summer.
But while the defender has been turning heads on the academy scene, first-team boss Elliott has set about changing the first-team fortunes.
In just three months since taking over from Adam Murray, Elliott has taken the Pilgrims from second bottom in the National League North to the verge of the play-off places, courtesy of 22 points from a possible 24.
But even with a Premier League starlet on his hands, Elliott believes Withers’ development, for now, will be better served by staying in the academy ranks.
“I must confess I don’t know too much about Tom as an individual but I’m delighted for him and everyone involved in the academy set-up,” Elliott, who led Shaw Lane to three promotions from 2013 to 2017, told The
NLP. “His move has given everyone at the club a massive confidence boost.
“Tom is clearly a talented player but we’ve got to look at how best to nurture that talent. It’s a very difficult league for an 18-year-old defender to make the step up, but we’ll see how it goes.
“Things are looking a lot rosier now than they were but we can’t stand still.
“When I arrived at the club the chairman and I spoke about 45-46 points being the target to be safe and, as far as I’m concerned, that’s still the target now.”