Academy Prize For Pearson

Ben Pearson has been named the Jimmy Murphy Young Player of the Year for 2013.

The midfielder was a regular in Paul McGuinness' Academy team, featuring 26 times, and scored the team's first and last goals of the league campaign.

However, the 18-year-old from Oldham has far more to his game than hitting the net as he is able to exert control on proceedings from the middle of the park and dictate the play with his passing and tackling skills. A fierce competitor, he has many strings to his bow and is rightly being tipped for a bright future.

After captaining England Under-18s against Belgium recently, it has been a terrific year for Pearson, who has also made appearances for Warren Joyce's Under-21 and Reserves sides.

"I'm really proud," said the teenager. "We've had a long season but I think we've done well - apart from in the FA Youth Cup. It's been a good campaign really.

"Most of my game is really about tackling and breaking up the play. The club have been really good to me. I've been here since I was a kid really and am just doing the best I can to get this far.

"It's a massive inspiration to get to see the first-team players every day around the training ground and just seeing them walk around. It's dead good!"

Pearson beat off competition from skipper Liam Grimshaw and fellow midfielder James Weir to win the trophy and follows in the footsteps of some famous names such as Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Phil Neville, Wes Brown and Danny Welbeck.

Recent winners:

2008: Danny Welbeck
2009: Federico Macheda
2010: Will Keane
2011: Ryan Tunnicliffe
2012: Mats Daehli