Statoil is the exclusive Aberdeen Football Club ‘Talent Partner’ with the emphasis specifically on the future development of elite youth players through the AFC Youth Academy. The Statoil “Heroes of Tomorrow” sponsorship concept supports talented young people, not just in sport but also in culture and education to help them achieve their ambitions. The Statoil Young Talent and Talent of the Month awards are awarded to players who show an exceptionally high standard of talent during Academy training sessions and matches at club and international level.

The Statoil Young Talent of the Month award was presented to Under 10s player Lancelot Pollard.  This is the first of the monthly awards that has been presented to an Under 10s player this season, who are a group who have had a number of very strong performances in recent weeks.  Lancelot, who joined the club having progressed through the Advanced Centre programme and Under 9s Development Group played both Under 10s & Under 11s throughout November and December and continues to demonstrate his skill and creativity on the ball.  His highlights in recent weeks have been his performances against Dundee United and Celtic, where he was able to use a variety of his skills learnt throughout the season.  Head of Academy Coaching, Gavin Levey praised his efforts by saying ‘Lancelot has always been a very skilful young player for his age group and has now started to add more variety to his game.  He spends a lot of time away from the club practicing and he will be proud to be the youngest player to win the Statoil Monthly Award so far this season’.

The Statoil Talent of the Month Award was presented to Under 15s Defender, Kyle Dalling.  Kyle who missed the early part of the season through injury has worked exceptionally hard to regain full fitness and has continued to show a real desire to practice and improve his own performance technically and athletically.  Recent weeks have highlighted the good progress that Kyle is making in his development with top performances against Kilmarnock & Rangers, whilst also being selected to be involved in an U16s fixture.  To help him enhance his physical development he has been attending additional individual sessions the club’s Sport Science team throughout the season.  Head of Youth Academy, Neil Simpson gave credit to Kyle for how he has performed over the past six weeks saying ‘Kyle had a frustrating start to the season and it’s a massive credit to his attitude to come through these challenges and perform to the level that we have seen in recent weeks. He has a real desire to work hard and better himself, which makes him a very worthy winner of this award’.