Paddy McLaughlin hails Chelsea-bound teenage sensation as 'one of the brightest prospects coming out of Irish League football' and feels it's 'important to protect him'
Glenavon manager Paddy McLaughlin feels it’s important officials offer protection to teenage sensation Chris Atherton, who he hailed as “one of the brightest prospects” across recent years in the Irish League after scoring his first Premiership goal in their 2-0 win over Loughgall.
Despite only turning 16 in October, Atherton has been on the radar of Irish League fans for many years, making his senior Lurgan Blues debut aged 13 in the League Cup against Dollingstown, becoming the youngest-ever player to feature in a match in the United Kingdom.
The Northern Ireland youth international has further enhanced his reputation this season, playing a key role for McLaughlin’s men as they set their sights on claiming a European play-off spot and celebrated another first on Tuesday evening when he opened the scoring at Lakeview Park.
After attracting interest from a number of Premier League clubs, Atherton is set to make the switch to Chelsea having already joined their youth development pathway and regularly travels to London for coaching with the Blues.
Gaining senior experience will only help Atherton make a more seamless transition to life in England – just like it has for Linfield duo Aodhan Doherty (Blackburn Rovers) and Braiden Graham (Everton) this term – and McLaughlin praised his teenage star for the way he handles himself on the pitch.
"Chris Atherton was on the receiving end of a couple of heavy tackles,” he said. “I'm not looking for any special treatment for him...at 16, one of the brightest prospects coming out of Irish League football in the last number of years, it's important to protect him.
“He was on the receiving end of three or four crunching tackles which is not nice to see but no bother to Chris, he bounced up every time and got on with it.
“But it shouldn't take for the young fella to get hurt before they decide to take action.
“I'm not saying they deliberately targeted him, I just felt that a couple of tackles were a bit on the heavy side, so we'll assess Chris in the morning and see what he's like.
“There's a couple of other knocks and niggles but nothing you wouldn't expect at this stage of the season.”
Tuesday’s victory moved Glenavon into ninth and means they’ve now only lost one of their last eight Premiership matches – a run which has transformed them from relegation contenders to European hopefuls.
McLaughlin’s men are only four points adrift of sixth-placed Cliftonville with four matches left to go before the split while they enter their weekend home clash against Coleraine with the added bonus of a first league clean sheet since December 30.
"We managed the second half really well, although Loughgall still carried a threat,” added McLaughlin. “Especially at home they're really strong and difficult to beat.
“We didn't believe at any stage that 2-0 was game over at half-time, we certainly weren't thinking that.
“It was trying to score the third thinking that could maybe help kill the game off, but Loughgall to their credit defended really well and stayed in the game right until the last kick.
“I think we managed it really well and nullified their threat.
“I don't remember our keeper having too much to do – anything he had to do he did it comfortably enough and our back four defended really well so full credit to the boys, it was a really good, professional performance.”