Ted Jenks is Brighton's powerhouse English midfield starlet who has been fast-tracked to train with first team

The midfielder signed a pro contact with The Seagulls in the summer – as a Year 11 schoolboy – and is already being catapulted through the ranks as one of the club’s hottest prospects.

Midfielder Jenks, 16, is a first year scholar but first team boss Chris Hughton spotted the towering midfielder’s talent and has given the budding star’s confidence a major boost by promoting him to workout alongside the biggest names at Albion.

At 6ft 3in tall and with a style that shows faint echoes in style of Liverpool’s legendary skipper Steven Gerrard, Jenks has ticked every box so far.

A tireless runner and intelligent passer with a frame built for endurance and with goals in his game too, he is not the finished article of course but the potential has shone through,

Jenks has been captain of England Under-15s and U-216s and is now setting his sights on next summer’s U-17s Euro finals as the latest impressive step along his blossoming career path.

A local boy, he has been with Brighton since he was eight and was spotted playing park football and became one of the many hopefuls trying to impress the coaches and make a name for themselves.

He is certainly doing that and is already set to wave goodbye to schoolboy football and become part of Brighton’s Under-23 squad – the reserves to those oldies who remember such a thing.

That in itself is a major pat on the bat for a determined young man who has already been picked out as one of the best 20 Premier League prospects.


Brighton boss Hughton is a big advocate of bringing through young talent from within.

For clubs like his it makes up a significant part of the programme given they cannot compete with the likes of Chelsea or Manchester City in the transfer market.

Jenks is the epitome of that at Brighton where his progress is already beginning to make people sit up and take notice.

Physically he is powerful but mentally too.

Jenks spent several months out of action after suffering a ligament injury while playing for England U-16s at the Nike tournament in the USA in a match against Brazil’s budding stars.

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