Teen ace Benny Benagr has signed a new Luton Town contract with boss Jack Wilshere revealing it was already in place before the teenager scored on his senior debut against Gillingham on Saturday.
The 18-year-old Luton-born winger capped a remarkable day for debutants – with George Johnston, Jayden Luker and Harrison Ashby all making their bows – by finding the net in Saturday’s 3-0 Carabao Cup first-round victory at Priestfield, having only been called into the first-team squad for the pre-season trip to Spain shortly beforehand.
But Wilshere stressed that Benagr’s goal had nothing to do with the decision to hand him a new deal, with the Luton Academy product having already done enough to convince the club of his potential.
“He’s taken everything in his stride and scoring the goal on Saturday was reward for his hard work, but this contract isn’t a result of that. It was already in place because he’s shown in a very short space of time exactly why the academy coaches rate him so highly,” Wilshere told the club’s website.
The Luton-born former Cardinal Newman student joined Luton’s youth system at the age of six after coming through the Luton Town Community Trust’s pre-academy and has been with the club ever since.
Wilshere revealed the youngster had impressed throughout his first season as a scholar before injury interrupted his progress last term.
“I know how well he did as a first-year scholar. He’s overcome adversity with the injury he had last season, but Paul Benson and Alex Lawless have been telling me constantly what a prospect he is,” he said.
Benagr was initially allowed to begin pre-season with Luton’s Under-21s as he returned from his injury, but his performances quickly earned him an opportunity with the senior squad.
“We let Benny start pre-season with the 21s to ease his way in, but it’s a credit to those coaches that he’s come into the first team environment and had the impact he has,” Wilshere added.
The teenager impressed in friendlies against Al Kholood, Walsall and Go Ahead Eagles ‘B’ before being handed his competitive debut at Gillingham.
Wilshere has been particularly impressed by how Benagr has handled the extraordinary change in circumstances, having initially only been expected to continue his development with the Under-21s.
“Benny has dealt with everything that’s been thrown at him in recent weeks, from finding out he was flying out [to Spain] on the day we went, to being woken up at 6am for Resilience Day and playing in the games since,” he said. “He’s taken everything in his stride.”
Wilshere believes the experience Benagr is gaining alongside the first team could prove more valuable than anything he could be taught in theory.
“There is still so much learning for him to do, but we always say that experience is better than explanation, and he’s soaking everything up at the minute. Long may that continue.”
Benagr is the latest Luton academy product to commit his future to the club, following close friend Christian Chigozie and Harry Fox.
For Wilshere, the teenager’s rapid emergence represents another reward for the work being carried out within the Hatters’ academy.
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