Crewe Alexandra offered a teenager a job as a full-time coach, director of football Dario Gradi has revealed.

Paris Bateman, 19, was one of four professionals let go at the start of this month after failing to make the breakthrough into the Alex first team.

The Cheshire club are revered for their successful academy but Gradi, who has a 30-year history with the club, revealed that bringing through top coaches is also important to the Railwaymen.

"We've just released Paris as a first-year pro and we'd offered him a full-time job coaching, but he wants to be playing while he can," Gradi is quoted as saying by The Sentinel.

"We have earmarked him as a potential full-time coach because we are keen to produce top-level coaches as well."

Last month, in the final League One game of the season, Crewe fielded a team that only contained home-grown talent.

Written by
Pascal Lemesre