Wales under-17 international Ania Denham has officially signed for Wolves Women after receiving international clearance.
The youngster has linked up with Dan McNamara’s squad after previously spending time with Caernarfon Town Academy.
An international at youth level with Wales, Denham came off the bench to score with her first touch in senior football against Oxford United in pre-season – a sublime curling effort into the net from the edge of the penalty area.
Denham, 16, recently returned from a UEFA under-17 friendly development tournament in Portugal where she represented her country. The tournament, which also featured Portugal, Italy and Denmark saw Denham start and score against the Danes while also making a substitute appearance in the Italy game.
A young and exciting prospect, manager McNamara has provided more background on recruiting the attacking midfielder and said: “Ania was recommended to me by a good friend of mine, Pete Wilson, who had her at North Wales Academy. He said she’d expressed an interest in coming to have a look at the environment and I know a couple of clubs were after her, so we brought her in.
“Right from the word go, you can see how much quality she’s got. She’s an exceptional talent for 16 years old and we were delighted when she came in.
“I know she’s been chomping at the bit to get into Wolves and start her career. She actually came in for the under-21 squad and three weeks into pre-season I had to make the decision to take her in the first-team squad because she was that impactful within training and in the first few friendlies.
“Everyone saw that she’s got an eye for goal and she’s a great talent. The best thing for me is that she’s a wonderful person to work with, which is a credit to her parents.
“We’ve got to manage expectations because she is only 16 and we’ve got a lot of work to do on and off the pitch, but we’re really looking forward to helping her in the next stages of her journey.”
