Oldham Athletic have offered a professional contract to second year youth scholar Mason Fawns.
The attacking youngster is the only player to be offered a professional deal from the current group of second years.Manager John Sheridan said: “It’s not a nice time. You have young lads who have been at the club for a couple of years and they all want to be footballers.
“It’s difficult, even for the parents, and it’s difficult to make those decisions but you can only be honest.
“I’ve not really seen too much of the youth team this season, I was only putting my opinion forward but it’s for the benefit for the club.
“It’s probably the hardest part of being a manager and the youth team staff.
“I’ve always said this; it doesn’t mean it’s the end of their career. I know many players who have left a club and gone on to better things and that’s the only thing I can say to them.
“Tony dealt with it well but I can only give my thoughts to them. It’s not something we want to do but it’s something we have to do.”
Ryan Leonard has also been offered an extension to do pre-season with the first team as he has been unfortunate with injuries this season and a balanced judgement on his football development could not be made because of this.