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New Coventry City signing Declan Drysdale turned down the chance to step up to the Premier League in favour of joining the Sky Blues, it has emerged.

The 19-year-old moved from League Two Tranmere Rovers last week after City agreed a compensation package with the League Two club for the highly-rated defender who has been on the radar of several clubs in recent years.

Watford are understood to have offered the centre-half a contract to take him to Vicarage Road this month but the player opted to join Mark Robins who has shown he’s not afraid to blood young players in his first team.

Birmingham City are also believed to have been keen to sign him last year but were unable to due to the Blues being under a transfer embargo.

And fellow Championship side Leeds United are understood to have had a £200,000 bid accepted for Drysdale last year but the deal fell through.

City, meanwhile, tried to sign the teenager in the summer after he'd been identified by the club's recruitment department, headed by Chris Badlan, and finally got their man last week – the player joining a strong Under-23s development squad which the club have been actively strengthening in recent transfer windows.

As well as bringing through the club’s own Academy players to break into the first team, following in the footsteps of current regulars Lee Burge, Jordan Willis, Tom Bayliss and Jordan Shipley, Robins is keen to build a development group that provides him with strength in depth and a ready supply of players who can make the step up to senior football.

Monday’s Under-23s side at Charlton showed the quality City have in their ranks which includes the likes of Zain Westbrooke, Reise Allassani and Sam McCallum – all of whom have featured in the first team in recent weeks.

Asked about Drysdale, Robins told CoventryLive: “He’s one of those who are players for the future.

“So we are looking at what we have got coming through from the 18s and what we need. And certainly, he’s what we need.”

And Robins is delighted that City are able to hold their own against the big boys when it comes to recruiting young talent.

“There was other interest in him,” he said.

“There was Premier League interest in him and he’s a player that could do anything he wants.

“He’s a Scouser and he’s got plenty of aggression but he’s also got that quality as well, so we’ve got a good player in him.

“There are a lot of lads in there who are doing well but just need a little bit of time to come through, and that’s exciting.

“That’s really is exciting.”

Asked if City’s policy and track record of providing a pathway for young players to break into the first team was a factor in the defender choosing the Sky Blues over a top flight side, where he’d inevitably end up playing Under-23s football for the next few years or being sent out on loan, the manager said: “I would imagine that’s the same for everyone because if they are good enough they get a chance here.

“That’s how we run it and how we have to run it.

“I could be really selfish and put out a team similar to Scunthorpe have done. Their chairman will bank roll it and spend, which he has previously and again this January with five new signings.

“But it’s different for us.”

If the defender, who has only played two National League games for Tranmere, is as good as City think then he could find himself in the first team in the next 12 months.

Fellow centre-half Dom Hyan was initially drafted in as a development player in the summer of 2017 and wasted no time at all in breaking through – the 23-year-old having made close to 50 appearances and now a regular in Robins’s side.

And with established defenders Willis and Tom Davies facing uncertain future at the club due to their contracts expiring next summer, there could be opportunities for the likes Drysdale and fellow defenders Morgan Williams, who has already had a taste of senior action in the Checkatrade Trophy, and Academy graduate Jordon Thompson who has featured nine times, including four league appearances under Robins.

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