DOUGIE Freedman will name Dean Austin’s successor as head of the Crystal Palace development squad in the next few days.

The development squad is seen by Freedman as crucial to bridging the gap between youth and first-team football so more starlets can make the step up to the full squad and stay there.

Austin had been heading up the development squad but he was released at the end of last season and Freedman confirmed a replacement was on the way.

The Palace boss told News Shopper: “I’ll be bringing someone in the next few days who will be running the development squad.

“I’ve got a good plan to push the guys to see if we can realise their potential and get them into the first-team as soon as we can.

“The idea is to bridge the gap between youth and first-teams as quickly as possible.

“I think these players can be pushing a lot quicker with different methods of training.”

Palace already has a good reputation for its production line of young players with the likes of Nathaniel Clyne, Wilfried Zaha, Sean Scannell, Kieran Djilali, Kieron Cadogan, Ibra Sekajja and Matt Parsons all playing their part last season.

But Freedman believes the development squad will improve even further, not only in numbers but also with the quality of players making the step up.

He said: “Hopefully you will start to see more and more 17 and 18-year-olds hitting the first-team a bit sooner and a lot more of them.

“We’ve seen over the last few years that anybody with decent talent can get into the first-team but I’m looking for something a bit special.

“I’m looking for talent mixed in with hard work and dedication and I’m trying to give them the opportunity with the facilities to take that in board.”

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