Bournemouth coach Alan Connell is backing their U18 graduates to shine with the U21s next season.

Cameron Plain, Ben Greenwood, Brooklyn Genesini, Christian Saydee, Nathan Moriah-Welsh and Connor Kurran-Browne have progressed to Shaun Cooper's U21 squad.

Speaking to afcb.co.uk, Connell said: “As a group, we had a good season and a number of individuals flourished.

“I was very pleased with the boys last season and we had some difficult decisions to make on players.

“The boys who were not kept on had done particularly well for the youth team over the past couple of years and were unfortunately not retained. We wish them the very best with their futures.

“We are delighted for the six who have progressed and believe they can, hopefully, impact the first team one day in the future.

“Due to their respective injuries and the pandemic, Christian, Nathan and Connor probably did just over a year each of their two-year scholarships.

“Although that was a shame for them at the same time, it makes me really excited about how much potential and development there is still to come from them.

“Brooklyn and Ben both had really steady seasons and Brooklyn made the first-team squad for the FA Cup game against Arsenal.

“Over the two years, he played a lot of football, both for the under-18s and under-21s, which is a big reason why he is where he is.

“Ben joined us towards the end of the previous season and made a big impact in a short space of time.

“Cameron has been around the under-21s every day and had a beneficial loan spell with Wimborne. Hopefully, he will carry on his progression since joining two years ago.

“They all have a lot of work to do but they have shown they have the attributes to forge a career in professional football and, hopefully, they can prove to be assets to the club."