Wycombe Wanderers set to make decision on Needham Market’s talented teenager Taylor Clark following second week of trial

Needham Market’s teenage talent Taylor Clark is hoping to earn himself a dream move into the professional game as a result of an extended trial at Wycombe Wanderers, SuffolkNews can reveal.

The 18-year-old central midfielder, who has just graduated from Needham Market’s academy, has spent the last couple of weeks training over in Buckinghamshire at the Sky Bet League One outfit.

Clark impressed enough to be invited back to train with the first team this week and looks likely to have been among the nine trailists who featured in a behind-closed-doors training match against Dagenham & Redbridge at Marlow Road on Tuesday afternoon.

It meant the player who had a trial with Aston Villa back in February, playing 29 minutes in an U18 Premier League fixture with Southampton, was absent from Bloomfields on Tuesday as Needham retained the Suffolk Champions Charity Cup with a 2-0 victory over Step 6 Framlingham Town.

With four new signings in the door, the Marketmen’s manager Kevin Horlock revealed his summer transfer dealings look to be done and dusted, unless Clark or another youngster, with Seth Chambers also having attracted interest, move on.

“Yes, that’s us, unless lads leave,” he said, “Taylor’s been trialling down at Wycombe.

“By all accounts he’s done really well and been invited back to train with the first team, I believe.

“That’s what it’s all about, producing good players and giving them a pathway to the first team.

“Obviously we want to keep hold of them but if young players get opportunities to go higher then we won’t stand in their way.”

Asked how Clark’s trial came about, he said: “Look, Taylor’s had a bit of interest over the last season or two, obviously he broke his ankle during the last year.

“He’s a good young player. We’ve also had interest in Seth, there’ll always will be in good players that are playing Step 3, especially when they’re that young.”

He continued: “Taylor’s a hell of a player. I remember him the day he turned up. We did an open event on the pitch and I was like ‘who’s this kid here?’

“Look, football is a turbulent business. It’s a game of opinions and somewhere along the line when he was younger, someone thought he wasn’t good enough to be in an academy which was to our benefit because he did brilliantly when he broke in.

“It was probably a bit too early when he got his chance with injuries, but he took it, and I left him in there and he developed and took to it.

“I think ankle break obviously set him back slightly but he’s over that; he looks stronger, he looks bigger and he’s a good player.

“I knew if he kept developing with his mentality and the way he goes about his business it was always

going to be a struggle to keep hold of him.

“Whether it happens now, whether it happens in six months’ time, I think we’ve just got to be thankful we’ve still got him here, and he’ll continue to be a Needham player until I’m told otherwise.”

Reece Harris, AFC Sudbury’s promotion-winning captain, was the only one of his four new additions that did not feature in Tuesday’s cup win due to a tight hamstring.

Needham’s pre-season preparations for their Pitching In Southern League Premier Central campaign, which will begin away to Stratford Town on August 5, continue with a step up in opposition tomorrow when they go to higher-league Braintree Town (2pm).

It comes after last Saturday saw them record a 1-0 win at home to Step 4 Felixstowe & Walton United with academy midfielder James Letts scoring his first senior goal.