Harry Whitwell is one of the rising stars of English football: he signed his first professional contract at West Brom in November 2022 and has since gone on to make his competitive debut against Aldershot in the FA Cup and start against Fleetwood in the League Cup this year.
He has also represented England at an U16, U17 and U18 level so far.
The Student has spoken to Whitwell about his career so far, what makes professional football different to academy football, his advice to other academy players looking to break into professional football, and much more.
James Reinhardt – What inspired you to get into football, and when did you first start seriously playing at an academy level?
Harry Whitwell – I’ve always just grown up around sports, my brother played lots of sports when he was younger, and seeing him play football for his team kind of made me want to try it out. Then I was playing Sunday League until I was around 10, when I started playing for Oxford United. I was there for a couple of seasons before moving to West Brom.
JR – You signed your first professional deal with West Brom in November 2022, what made you choose West Brom as your club of choice?
HW – I think ever since I joined them at 11/12 years old, they’ve put a lot of faith in me, and they’ve made me develop quite quickly as a player – that’s allowed me to get some recognition higher up in the age groups. So it was a no brainer, really, when they said we want to kind of keep you for another few years. And I was quite quick to sign.
JR – How did it feel to make your first team debut for West Brom against Aldershot in the FA Cup and your first start later this year against Fleetwood?
HW – It was an unreal experience playing in front of 15,000 people at the Hawthorns. I did well as well, which was also nice (especially picking up an assist), and then having my family there in the stands watching me – it was special to share that kind of day with them, which was amazing. Then to progress onto my first start against Fleetwood, and to feel like I kind of held my own was also nice. It was the first start against tough opposition, and after thinking that I handled it quite well, it gave me a lot of confidence going forward.
JR – That actually leads on to my next question: how different is professional to academy football, particularly in terms of the physicality?
HW – Obviously, I’ve not had too much taste of first team football yet, but from my kind of experience I’ve had of it so far it is on a completely other level physically wise. You have to be able to hold the ball up against like 30 year old men who have been doing it for the last 10-15 years. And then I think also you have to be very quick: the speed of the game is a lot quicker. You kind of have to know where you’re going to pass, the way your first touch is going to go, even before you receive it.
JR – Is that something you really admire, in terms of the best professional footballers today such as Cole Palmer and Phil Foden, is their ability to know what they’re going to do before they get the ball, that they’re always a step ahead of the game?
HW – Yeah, I think if you look at the best players in the Premier League like Martin Odegaard and Kevin De Bruyne, they just see the game five seconds ahead of time. That’s how they can make those split decisions – they’ve been thinking about it for a few seconds before that. So it looks amazing to us, but for them, it’s pretty normal.
JR – Let’s move on to your England career so far. You are currently in the England U18 team, what are your ambitions going forward regarding the national team?
HW – I think it’s obviously always an honour to make an appearance for England, even at youth level it shows that you are making something work, and you are kind of being rewarded. My experiences of England have obviously been very proud for me and my family. It’s great to test myself against the best players in our country, and then when you play against other international teams, you play against some of the best players in the world at your level. Obviously, the dream for any kind of professional football is to play for the country. For me, playing for England is a dream of mine. So, my goal is to just keep trying to get further into the setup.
JR – I was going to ask about the set up: do you think it differs significantly from club football at a youth level?
HW – It’s not too different. It’s just the fact that when you’re playing for the international team, obviously you’re only playing with new players you’ve never played with before, and you’ve only got maybe a few training sessions before your first game to get to know how they play, what their style is, how they like to move on the on the pitch, etc. So, I think maybe you could say there’s a bit of like less fluidity in your play, because all the people in the international setup are also very good players so that’s negated slightly. That’s really the main challenge, trying to get to know people in a short space of time.
JR – I agree, I think that’s a particularly common problem for players going into international football, and that really a. I wanted to finish with a couple more questions, starting with which coaches do you think have helped you most in your career so far?
HW – All the staff at West Brom in the academy have been great to me. In little ways, they’re all very good at seeing your development individually. So just as a person, not necessarily as a team in general, little points are given, like going through clips. Probably one of the coaches that made the biggest impact was maybe just even when I was at Sunday League, they kind of made me fall in love with football. They were the ones who first saw that I had a bit of talent, and they pushed me to keep improving and play as much football as I could.
JR – Finally, I wanted your opinion on a scheme Trent Alexander-Arnold has recently started an organisation (The After Academy) which acts as a fallback for academy players who cannot make it into the first team and are cut from the academy. What do you make of the current situation regarding the difficulty for academy players breaking into first teams, particularly in the Premier League?
HW – I think it’s a challenge obviously, but then I think the level of football in the Premier League these days is so high, it’s the best league in the world. It’s such a high level that only the best youngsters can break through. But I think that’s almost a good thing. I think you really have to prove yourself to a manager who wants to put you on the pitch, and then maybe, if you’re not quite ready, it forces you to go out and play in other leagues, such as maybe lower down in the football pyramid, such as League One and League Two. I think it probably raises the game of these players in Premier League teams, because they know the standard to get to breakthrough into the team is going to be very difficult. Being a professional footballer is hard, even to just sustain your career is hard. But it probably makes those who do make it even better than they once were.
JR – Let’s say a 15–16-year-old academy player is thinking about where they’re going to sign their first professional contract. Would you advise them to maybe sign a contract at a lower league club, just to get some experience and more guaranteed playtime in comparison to going out on loan to a team they may never play for?
HW – Everyone’s pathway is different. I think getting first team in football at the youngest age possible is always going to be a very good route for anyone. So, in that sense, I think if there’s a better pathway team in the lower leagues, then it could be the most sensible move. But then I also think these days that the Premier League clubs, and how expansive their loan systems are, it’s almost easier coming into a lower league club from premier league club as an academy player trying to break into the first team at any club.
“West brom stadium” by Mattd1991 is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.