Audrius Laucys ‘proud’ after being offered Development Squad deal
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Ciaran Brett
Defender reacts as he signs first Professional contract with Brentford
Audrius Laucys believes that the hard work starts now as he prepares to return to pre-season training as part of Lee Carsley’s Development Squad for the 2015/16 season.
The 18-year-old defender signed a new one-year contract at Griffin Park earlier this week after completing his two-year scholarship at Jersey Road.
The right-back, who is also capable of playing in the centre of defence, admitted that he was proud when he looked back at how far he had come since leaving his native Lithuania to join Brentford in 2011.
However with the standard of the first-team only going up he said now is not a time to rest but rather he must work even harder to make the next step from Development Squad player to first-team player.
“This is going to be my fifth year at Brentford so I was really happy to be offered a contract,” said Audrius. “I called my coach back in Lithuania and he said he was proud of me. I am proud of myself because I learned English really quickly and I had to adapt to English football quickly as well. I am going to push myself even more now to keep going forward.”
“The hard work starts from day one so I have to get into it. It is a big chance but I need to prove that I am good enough to have signed this contract. It will be harder than it was this season. Everybody needs to prove to the gaffer and the coaches that they are good enough to sign another contract and hopefully get to the first-team. The first-team are getting better and better so it is going to be even harder than it was before. The first-team are going to get to the Premier League soon so we need to be good enough to play at their level.”
Before hopefully graduating to the first-team squad Audrius said he needs to prove himself to Development Squad manager Lee Carsley.
With only a one-year contract Audrius believes that the months until Christmas will be crucial to his chances of getting a further deal and he will have to work hard in training every day to achieve his aim.
“The ten of us who have signed a pro contract need to impress Lee Carsley first to get into the Development Squad starting XI and then after that we need to impress the manager,” said Audrius. “I have played a few games under Lee and trained with him last season and I think he is a good coach.
“We really have four or five months until Christmas to prove that we are good enough. If we can’t do that then we are off basically. I think most of us have one year contracts so everybody needs to work hard until Christmas to prove that they are good enough to get another year. It is going to be a good challenge.”