THE youth system at Worcester City is “stronger than ever” with some of their promising players catching the eye of Premier League clubs.

Luca Gabriel, who arrived at City three years ago to head up their junior set-up, believes bringing in a “professional syllabus” is beginning to bear fruit.

They might be struggling in the National League North relegation zone but Gabriel was delighted to see City’s youngsters get in the first team recently with 17-year-old Callum Devlin featuring in the last two games.

His under 18s team-mates Tyreece Ruddock, Aaron Brett, Riley Keasey, Nathaniel Nisbett, Jordan Maddocks and Josh Willis have also been training with caretaker boss John Snape’s side ahead of Saturday’s home clash with Darlington 1883 (3pm).

“The youth segment of the club is stronger than ever,” said Gabriel who has previously worked at West Bromwich Albion.

“When I came here three years ago I put together an academy syllabus from under 12s all the way up to under 18s and they’ve done really well.

“I have had seven of my players training with the first team over the last two weeks which is a massive achievement for us because it has not been done that much before.

“From the feedback I have been getting they have not looked out of place so that means the quality of what we are doing is very high.”

As well as showing promise for City Gabriel said his youngsters’ talents have also caught the eye of some of the country's top clubs.

“We didn’t have a good influx of new under 18s so we just progressed our very talented group of under 16s into that set-up,” he continued.

“And they have done so well to the point where we have had two Premier League clubs interested and a few Championship teams come in for them as well.

“But my objective was always to push them into City’s first team.”

City’s sides, ranging from under 10s to 18s, are playing in the Nerf Junior Premier League and Gabriel said there were many juniors making good strides.

He added: “My team of coaches are working really hard.

"It was alien to them when I came from a professional set-up and gave them a professional syllabus as it was a bit different to what they were used to. However, you can see it is working now.”

Youth director Mark Wilcox said: “John has been very supportive with City’s youth section to bring players through and the club’s progression programme is delivering some excellent young talent.

“Although it is a big step up from the youth set-up to National League standard the opportunities to support the first team in both training and match days are a real benefit to the club and can only improve over coming seasons as the players develop further.”