Markanday named Premier League 2 Player of the Month

Dilan Markanday has been rewarded for his fine form in our Under-23 side by being named Premier League 2 Player of the Month for October.

The 20-year-old attacking midfielder scored four goals in as many games over the course of last month, as well as making his first team debut away to Vitesse in the UEFA Europa Conference League.

Among his haul for Wayne Burnett’s side, Dilan scored twice as we inflicted Manchester City’s first Premier League 2 defeat in almost a year with a 3-1 victory at the City Academy Stadium on 23 October, before firing home in stoppage time to seal a 1-0 win over Manchester United at Stevenage the following week.

He also netted in a 4-3 defeat at Crystal Palace at the start of October and is now on 10 goals in 10 Premier League 2 appearances, having also hit the target five times during pre-season.

Previously nominated for the monthly Under-23 award in April and August of this year, he saw off competition from Jamal Baptiste (West Ham United), Anthony Elanga (Manchester United), Ziyad Larkeche (Fulham), Salah-Eddine Oulad M’Hand (Arsenal), Aaron Ramsey (Aston Villa) and Dynel Simeu (Southampton) to land the prize, as awarded by the Premier League’s Football Development Panel after club coaches nominated the best performance by an opposition player in each of their Under-23 matches during last month.

Dilan said: “I’m really happy and proud to win this award – I want to use it as added fuel and motivation to keep developing and working every day to improve. It feels really good to be recognised in this way, especially as there were a number of talented players from across the league competing for the award too. Obviously it’s been a good month for me personally, but we’ve had a few good wins from a team perspective so I’ve been happy to be able to contribute to that and help the team on the pitch. Now I just need to keep going, keep improving and see what the future holds.”

Academy Manager Dean Rastrick added: “We’re very proud that Dilan has won this award – he’s a very grounded and intelligent young man who recognises what this Under-23 award means, but also knows the hard work that’s still going to be required as he continues to develop with the overall aim of eventually transitioning into first team football. We’re obviously delighted that he recently made an important piece of history as the first British Asian to represent our first team in a competitive game – the challenge now is to keep developing and improving. We’re all looking forward to seeing how he progresses over the coming months.”