Forest Green Rovers have now made their seventh summer signing today, adding the highly rated young goalkeeper Bradley Collins on a season-long loan from Chelsea.
A statement from the forestgreenroversfc.com website read The 20-year-old will join goalkeepers Sam Russell and Simon Lefebvre in the squad for FGR’s upcoming League Two campaign.
Collins is a two-time FA Youth Cup winner and twice been part of the Chelsea side that has lifted the UEFA Youth League title, playing alongside the likes of Rueben Loftus-Cheek, Nathan Aké, Dominic Solanke and Tammy Abraham.
Collins said: “I’m delighted to have this opportunity coming from Chelsea under 23s now to play men’s football.
“It’s something different because I’ve been there for eight years, so to come out and get on loan is out of my comfort zone.
“Everybody knows that going into men’s football is ten times louder and more physical – luckily here it’s the same way we play at Chelsea with the philosophy of bringing the ball out from the back.”
Manager Mark Cooper said: “Bradley joining Forest Green Rovers shows just how far we’ve come. It’s fantastic that Chelsea trust us with their young player – especially one so highly rated by their team. He played their Checkatrade games last year, and saved four penalties against Oxford. We now have two great ’keepers and we’re all looking forward to seeing Bradley compete for games and play.”
He joined the Chelsea set-up at the age of 11 and has progressed through the system at Stamford Bridge, with his current contract at the Premier League champions running until summer 2018.
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