Peterborough United have secured the future of youngster Benjamin Mensah, with the second-year apprentice signing his first professional contract.
The talented defender has agreed a two-and-a-half-year deal to keep him at the club until 2023, having already pushed himself into first team contention.
The 18-year-old appeared in the Papa John’s Trophy as early as November 2019 during a 2-1 victory over Cambridge United, and added a further three outings to his tally in the competition this term.
“Benji thoroughly deserves the contract,” Manager Darren Ferguson told the club website. “He has developed a lot since the start of the campaign, improving in the areas that he needed to and kicked on. He has been in and around the first team group and featured in the Papa John’s Trophy fixtures.
“He can play as a right-back or as a right wing-back, he is aggressive and is an excellent one-v-one defender. Everyone talks about the qualities that a modern day full-back or wing-back needs to have, and he certainly has all of those capabilities, but he is strong in that one-v-one aspect of the game and that is important.
“A lot of credit must go to Kieran Scarff, Matthew Etherington and Simon Davies, who have worked with him within the academy. It is great that we have another player that has graduated from the academy system.”
Academy Manager Scarff added: “Benji is a lovely lad, he works very hard and we enjoy working with him day in, day out. He has been consistent with his performances this season and credit to him for that.
“He has done well with the youth team and the Under-23s and has done well when he has been given the opportunity within the first team squad. A lot of credit must go to Matthew, Simon, James and Ev for supporting his development over the last season and a half.
“We have always spoken about the pathway from the academy through to the first team and this is another example of that.”
