Sunday, 19th October, 2014



Leeds United academy boss Neil Redfearn believes it is dawning on club owner Massimo Cellino what a superb youth set-up he has inherited at the club.

Cellino bought Leeds earlier this year, selling his former club Cagliari to concentrate on restoring the Whites to the Premier League. He instantly established a good rapport with Redfearn and even turned to the former midfielder to manage the senior team on a caretaker basis when he sacked David Hockaday after four league games.




Redfearn has since returned to his academy role, but with several of the club's young players knocking at the first team door and the Under-21 side sitting top of their league, the plaudits have kept flowing.

Cellino led an Italy-focused transfer policy in the summer and drafted over a whole host of players. But Redfearn does not believe that will be at the expense of youngsters, with the Italian having convinced him of his commitment to young talents. That has also led to a two-way street in terms of exchanging ideas.

 


"The real interesting thing from my point of view is that, obviously I've been in the game a long time, this for me is new, to have a foreign owner and this Italian mentality at the top", Redfearn admitted to the BBC.

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"It's really interested me how they do things and what works for them and how they view things that should work.

"It's not all one way. He'll suggest things as regards the academy and I'll say 'we do it this way, tell me how you do it in Italy in Cagliari?'. And he'll explain how it worked over there.

"So it's a two way thing. He's brought up a lot of good ideas and thing which will benefit us in the future."

And Redfearn is convinced of Cellino's commitment to the academy, especially as he feels the Italian now appreciates just how good it is.

"The young players that he has brought over are the perfect example. [Dario] Del Fabro, he had him at Cagliari for years, he's one of his, and he enthused about him. And I knew from that moment that academies and youth football meant a lot to him.

"He obviously built a strong academy at Cagliari and these players were coming through in his academy.

"I think he wants to do the same here and it's dawning on him now and he's realising how good this academy can be and how good it is.

"And the fact it's his. He owns it. He owns the club. He owns this academy and what it means. That's going to benefit our first team and this football club", Redfearn concluded.

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