New Academy Manager Miguel Llera is confident his knowledge and experience can help develop players for the Saddlers’ first team.
The 39-year-old Spaniard has spent more than 20 years in football as a player and a coach, earning his UEFA Pro, A and B licence and a PDP Advanced Youth Award.
The former Sheffield Wednesday centre-back has held coaching positions with the Owls and more recently Chesterfield, where he helped seven players obtain professional contracts.
And Llera is looking to set more youngsters on the right path to a career in the beautiful game.
“I am really proud to be coming into this great club,” said Llera.
“I will do my best to bring this club back into League One and help the first-team manager by developing players for the first team.
“The club has the expectation to bring individuals into the first team and that’s why I have come in. I will do my best to transfer my knowledge and experience to the kids.
“I know what a player needs to be a footballer. This is what I did with my players at Chesterfield – I was really honest with them.
“I know my expectations of working with footballers, the standard they need to be footballers and I will make that really clear from the beginning with them.
“I will keep pushing them because I am a very demanding person in that I know how tough it is to be a footballer.
“All my life, I’ve been in football. I started to play at academy level and I believe it’s an advantage because I know what they are thinking, as I have been like them.
“I want to use my experience to help them, to try to understand what they think and find the best way to develop them.
“We need to create the right environment to develop players and my job will be pushing them as much as I can to get a contract for them.”