Manchester United’s Barnsley Babes agreed deadline day loan moves to get their first tastes of adult football.
Zak Dearnley, from Ingbirchworth, and Callum Whelan, from Hemingfield, have joined League Two clubs Oldham Athletic and Port Vale on loan for the remainder of the season.
Holding midfielder Whelan, 20, was picked up by Manchester United aged eight and has gone up through the age groups alongside Dearnley.
His mum Rachel Adams recalls the frequent journeys over the Pennines as her son, a former The Ellis and Netherwood ALC pupil, developed.
She said: “It was a case of picking him up from school, Callum eating his tea in the back of the car, training for two hours then back home for 9.30pm and to bed. We did that for a solid 12 years, six times a week. It was a big relief when he passed his driving test.
“His dream was always to play for Manchester United and he was scouted at a very young age.”
Whelan now lives in Cheshire with team-mate and Scotland international Scott McTominay.
“He will come home on a weekend and just put his feet up,” said his mum.
“They are all grounded at Manchester United and Callum hates being in the limelight. It is not as glamorous as people may think.
“We are very close with Zak and his dad. Zak and Callum are both great lads and they have been taught off the same page at United.
“Callum has been likened to a young Michael Carrick in the way he plays and was a runner-up for the Young Player of the Year Award. Going out on loan will give him a lease of life and he was gutted that the game got called off on Saturday. We will be going to Cambridge this weekend where hopefully he will make his debut.”
Meanwhile, Dearnley, 20, began his career at Penistone Church before moving to the Red Devils aged eight. He and his father Ian moved to the Manchester area when he was 16.
Zak was an unused substitute for Jose Mourinho’s United on the final day of the 2016/17 Premier League season but has also struggled with some long-term injuries.
He is a former Thurlstone Primary and Penistone Grammar School pupil who plays on the wing or up front. Penistone Church’s secretary Dave Hampshire said: “The whole club is really proud of having a former player at Manchester United.
“Zak was a very nice young lad with a great workrate and he had been brought up the right way by his parents. You could tell he was very talented even at such a young age.
“He’s done very well to stay at Manchester United for so long, because there is so much competition there, and hopefully he will get a lot of experience from being at Oldham.”
Dearnley is not the first former Church junior to move into professional football. John Stones is at the other Manchester club, City, and an England international while former Barnsley captain Marc Roberts is with Championship club Birmingham City.
Louis Reed, who is also from Penistone, is in the first team squad of Barnsley’s League One promotion rivals Peterborough United while George Smith, the former Reds left-back, is at Chesterfield.
Jordan Barnett, who played for Penistone last season, is currently in the Barnsley under 23s squad having signed a professional deal at Oakwell.
Hampshire said: “We follow all of their careers and we’re proud of them all. For a club like ours to have produced so many professionals in the last couple of decades is a very good achievement.”
Whelan remains good friends with Barnsley FC’s Louis Wardle, from Wombwell, and Sheffield Wednesday professional Fraser Preston from Elsecar. Connor Kirby, from Worsbrough, is also on the books at Hillsborough and, alongside Preston, has played for the Owls’ first team.
