Markanday up for Premier League 2 Player of the Month

Dilan Markanday has been shortlisted for the August’s Premier League 2 Player of the Month award.

The attacking midfielder has shone in our Under-23 side of late, scoring our first goal in the season-opening 2-2 draw with Chelsea on 16 August before bagging a hat-trick in a 4-2 win at Leeds United seven days later.

That was his second treble in as many months after he scored a hat-trick at Ramsgate in July – three of five goals he scored during pre-season.

Named on the bench for the first team in the second leg of our UEFA Europa Conference League play-off against Pacos de Ferreira on 26 August, he capped off the month with two assists in our Development Squad’s thrilling 4-3 victory at Stevenage in the Papa John’s Trophy on 31 August.

It’s the second time Dilan has been shortlisted for the monthly Premier League 2 prize, having also been in the running for April’s award.

This time, he’s up against Aaron Ramsey (Aston Villa), Omari Giraud-Hutchinson (Arsenal), Evan Ferguson (Brighton), Harvey Vale (Chelsea), James McAtee (Man City), Dylan Stephenson (Newcastle) and Jonathan Tomkinson (Norwich).

The shortlist was determined by the Premier League’s Football Development Panel after club coaches nominated the best performance by an opposition player in each of their matches during last month. Performances in the Papa John’s Trophy are also taken into consideration. The panel will also decide the winner.