Melbourne City prospect Lawrence Wong made history after debuting in the Isuzu UTE A-League debut on Tuesday night.
The 17-year-old academy graduate became the first City player to have come through the club’s entire Player Development Pathway before debuting in the A-Leagues.
“He has a little bit of x-factor in terms of his creativity,” City head coach Aurelio Vidmar told Paramount+ after the 2-0 win over Western. “We needed something there in midfield.
“He hasn’t played a hell of a lot. Played most of his NPL games last year. He has a different quality but he is still very young.
“In time, we think he is going to be very good. He has silky skills, can hit a ball, good delivery, can take people on as you can see.”
Described as one of City’s brightest academy talents, the creative midfielder signed his first professional contract in the off-season.
“Since joining our Academy Lawrence has shown he is a very talented player, particularly in the past 18 months where his physical development has accelerated significantly,” said director of football Michael Petrillo when Wong’s pro deal was announced.
“He’s made his mark at every age group in our Academy and having watched him in training with our senior squad so far this pre-season, he does not look out of place.
It is also part of City’s strategy as they begin to benefit from their academy.
Since City’s academy began in 2015, 184 players have come through the system, while 52 have gone on to play in the Isuzu UTE A-League – 30 at City and 22 for other clubs. That figure does not include Sebastian Esposito, who is currently on the books of Serie A outfit Lecce, where is eyeing a first-team debut.
“It’s super exciting. From our end, these boys like Memeti, Antoniou, Charles, Wong, they were our first cycle of boys who actually started with us from 12 years of age and gone through a full academy cycle,” City’s senior academy manager Simon Zappia told aleagues.com.au after Round 4 of the season.
“From an academy sense, it’s the first time we’ve ever had a full cycle come through and a lot of people forget that sometimes. In the early days when the National Youth League was around, you had the NYL team and that was it.
“2020 was the first season we were able to have teams from Under-14s all the way through here at Melbourne City. Obviously two years of that was COVID anyway, where we didn’t play much football.
“I think it’s really exciting for Australian football.”
