Academy at MK Dons gave Championship striker confidence to 'be a bit outlandish'

The academy system at MK Dons gave one of the Championship’s top strikers the grounding to go on and become the player he is today.

Brandon Thomas-Asante left MK1 in the summer of 2019, just shy of three years after making his debut for the club. A hotly tipped teen through Dons’ youth system, Thomas-Asante was a part of the first-team fold on a regular basis under the various managers through the door at Stadium MK during that time, making 35 appearances for the club.

Departing for Salford City, he burst onto the scene for the Ammies before earning a move to West Brom. Now plying his trade for Coventry City as they vie for promotion to the Premier League, Thomas-Asante feels the grounding he had in Milton Keynes gave him, and plenty of others too, gave him the boost he needed in his career.

“I was born in Milton Keynes, and there was a positive outlook at MK Dons,” he said, speaking to SkyBet. “It’s a forward-thinking club, and that goes from the academy all the way to the first team.

“Young players tended to have a lot of success there – for example Dele Alli, who went on to have an amazing career, and my academy teammate Kevin Danso has just gone to Tottenham.

“We were always encouraged to be creative growing up, which made it through to the first team mentality. To know that as youngsters, we had a chance of playing, was very encouraging.

“Kabongo Tshimanga, David Kasumu are just some of the many players that have come through. It’s not often that that happens, where a lot of people continue to go through their career. To have a lot of quality around you at a young age is testament to the philosophy of MK Dons, and I hope to see many more players come through the club in the future.

“A lot of players from the academy are still good friends of mine and are playing in the EFL.”

While he never went on to make a league start for Dons, Thomas-Asante said he was always encouraged to go out and express himself and be creative, something he still tries to do now.

“I was just excited to play and confident to express myself at a young age at MK Dons – I've never been shy to try something that might be a bit outlandish. The older I’ve got; I’d like that to be a bit more consistent and keep adding higher numbers.”

Brandon Thomas-Asante was speaking to Sky Bet