Brisbane Roar have signed highly-rated academy prospect Lucas Herrington to a three-year scholarship contract ahead of the 2024-25 Isuzu UTE A-League season.
The 17-year-old is a Young Socceroo who represented Australia at the ASEAN Under-19 Boys Championship in Indonesia last month.
A commanding central defender, Herrington made his senior debut for the Roar on the club’s recent tour of India and has described the opportunity to sign a scholarship deal as a dream come true.
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“It means everything – to my family and it means a lot to me,” Herrington said.
“Every footballer as a kid, they dream of this, so to happen at the Roar is just extra special and I’m just really grateful to everyone who made it happen.
“To make my A-League debut for Roar, that’d be the best day of my life, I’ve been dreaming of that for ages, so for that to happen this season would be awesome.
“We’ve worked really hard in pre-season so as a team we’re hoping to get back into finals, where we belong.”
Herrington joins fellow scholarship signings Thomas Waddingham and Quinn MacNicol in the senior squad and after the respectively eye-catching debut campaigns from both Waddingham and MacNicol in 2023-24, Brisbane fans will be excited to see what the centre-back can contribute in the new campaign.
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Herrington is the seventh new signing of Brisbane’s off-season alongside Harry Van Der Saag, Ben Warland, Marcus Ferkranus, Hosine Bility, Ben Halloran and Walid Shour.
Brisbane head coach Ruben Zadkovich has heaped praise on the Taringa Rovers, Toowong FC and Brisbane City junior, who has been at the club for the past five years, as he prepares to blood Herrington into the club’s first-team squad.
“Lucas is such an exciting talent, his demeanour and his calmness, he’s very intelligent, very articulate and comes from a lovely family,” Zadkovich said.
“His awareness and ability to see things probably beyond his years, he’s got such a high ceiling.
“When you have a player that has that much talent but also a great attitude and such a humble demeanour it’s just a real good recipe for someone like myself to then try and shape him and develop him as a person and player.”
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