Former Irish League youngster and 'promising goalkeeper' inducted into scholarship programme at Premier League side Wolves

The 16-year-old signed a pre-contract with Wolves last summer after impressing during trial periods and he’s now set to take the next step in his football journey, inducted alongside 13 other full-time scholars in an event held at Molineux last weekend.

Gracey progressed through the ranks at Glenavon, spending six years at Mourneview Park before making a move across the water, and has also represented Northern Ireland at youth international level.

He joins a growing list of Irish League talent that have earned significant moves – this summer alone the likes of Braiden Graham, Aodhan Doherty, Alfie Friars and Sean Corry have all been signed by clubs in England.

“Josh recently joined us from Glenavon and is a very young and promising goalkeeper who will make the transition into our group and over the coming months, we’ll get to know him more,” said Hunter-Barrett. “We’ll then be able to work out areas where we can really support and aid his development further.”

The ultimate aim of the scholarship programme is to help the likes of Gracey progress to earn a maiden professional contract at Molineux and Hunter-Barrett says all the youngsters will be challenged over the next two years as they chase their dreams.

“I’m really excited about this year’s cohort,” he added. “It’s a group combined of players who have come through the journey from our initial intake at under-8s and then others brought into the programme from local recruitment.

"We’ve also brought players into the group post-14 which has been a massive part of our overall strategy – combining the two recruitment departments and being able to form really competitive groups.

“It’s always important to see those who have been here a long time come through and then be rewarded with a scholarship at a category one Premier League club.

"Equally, it’s just as exciting being able to identify and recruit players coming into the programme and providing them with an opportunity to show us what they’re about and prove their ability.

“The key for them is going to be to challenge each other every single day. We talked a lot in our induction about high challenge and high support.

"We’re going to challenge them and we want them to challenge each other but, around it, there’s going to be a lot of support from our team on and off the pitch.”