QPR youngster has ‘real chance’ – Bircham

QPR Under-21s boss Marc Bircham says Canadian youngster Mike Petrasso has “a real good chance” of progressing to first-team level if he can maintain his current form.

The 18-year-old has been a stand-out performer for Rangers’ development side since his transfer from Toronto FC’s academy last season.

And Bircham has been been impressed by the winger, who featured for the second string in a 4-3 win against AFC Wimbledon this week.

Bircham said: “Mikey’s done excellent; I brought him over from Canada about a year ago now.

“He’s only two months short of being an Under-18, so he’s a first-year pro and one of the younger lads.

“I said at half-time they could try and get the ball to him more because he’s been playing really well recently.

“He had the beating of the full-back so if we could give him the ball as much as possible you knew he would create.

“He’s been gradually improving month by month – he’s got a real good chance.”

The side featured only one of the permitted three over-age players – Samba Diakite – but Bircham believes the youngsters have learned a lot from having senior professionals alongside them this season.

He explained: “Having the older players helps our young lads out massively. They can learn off them by doing the right things in the right areas.

“We’ve had Ale Faurlin, Niko Kranjcar, Andrew Johnson and [Javier] Chevanton all play this year.

“Our lads will look and learn and it doesn’t matter who you are, if you’re in this team you need to work hard.”

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