Michael Stone has earned the respect of Huddersfield Town’s senior players, according to Darren Moore, and the Terriers manager is looking forward to more players following in his footsteps.
The 19-year-old midfielder has been an unused substitute for the past two weekends, and with the busy festive period approaching, a senior debut may not be far away.
Stone joined Town’s B-team set-up from Stoke City in 2020, and Moore says the club’s senior players have been impressed by what they have seen when he has stepped up to first-team training.
“He’s got an incredible desire, temperament, and self-confidence,” said Moore, who has earned a reputation for youth development since beginning his coaching career at West Bromwich Albion Academy.
“He can’t do enough. He puts others before himself and he’s prepared to do the hard yards.
“He’s got a wonderful story and a really great energy about him. He’s got a pass in him and he’s happy to break play up and offload the ball and once he’s done one action, he follows it up with a secondary one.
“If he sets an attack off, he wants to get on the end of it.
“He’s stepped onto the first team and the seniors respect him for the person he is and the player. When you see him gel into the group as instantly as he has, it’s a wonderful attribute to have. I had no hesitation in including him in the squad.
“You want to give young players the opportunity and as a manager, I’ve not been afraid to throw young players in because I feel if they’re right, it’s right.
“We treat them as first-teamers. I talk no different to Danny Ward as a stoney.”
Owner Kevin Nagle is revamping Huddersfield’s academy along more traditional lines after the B-team experiment, and the flow of young talent into the senior squad is important to his vision for the club.
“We’ve got the B-team players quite close to us here so it gives us an opportunity to integrate them, and we speak with the B-team manager, Jon Worthington, on a daily basis,” said Moore. “They’ve been on the bench and they’ve been training on and around the pitch.
“The mental cycle goes up a level, which encourages the performance that goes to the next level.”
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