Young Gambian midfielder Ethan Bojang has signed a two-year contract with English championship side Peterborough United following his departure from Doncaster Rovers.
Bojang, 18, who captained the Rovers U-18 last season spent the latter part of the preseason at London Road and impressed enough to be handed a contract. He will go straight into the Posh’s U-23 side managed by Matthew Etherington, a step up from the U-18, to continue his development.
“Peterborough United can confirm that young midfielder Ethan Bojang has agreed a two-year contract at the football club following his release from Doncaster Rovers and will be part of the U-23 group which kick-off their league campaign on Monday [at Swansea],” Peterborough United said in a statement.
Bojang formed part of The Gambia U-20 side that won bronze at the African Cup of Nations in Mauritania where he made two appearances, starting in a 1-0 opening day loss to Morocco before coming as a substitute in the Young Scorpions’ 3-0 thrashing of the Central African Republic in the quarterfinals.
Before that tournament, he trained with League One Doncaster’s first team squad earlier in 2021 and Head Coach at the time, Darren Moore, was really impressed with his qualities. He did a week’s training with us before he went [to the AFCON] and he’s got the size and physicality to match the demands of it. It’s a tremendous time for him. He trained with the first team and he didn’t look out of place. He did really well,” Moore was quoted by the Doncaster Free Press in March.
Few days later, Moore left South Yorkshire club for Sheffield United, and the end of his contract this summer, Bojang was released, thus allowing him to leave on a Bosman transfer. Posh’s Academy Manager Kieran Scarff knew Bojang from their time together at Keepmoat Stadium and he is pleased to have him at the Championship side, even if he was absolutely surprised that the Gambian wasn’t offered a new deal.
“Ethan has come through the system at Doncaster. I knew him from my time at the club. He joined us right at the back end of last season and trained with us for a few weeks,” Scarff said. “We kept in contact with him during the summer and some of those conversations were around our Category Two status and the subsequent U-23 league programme. At Doncaster, Ethan was always in the top two or three in his age group as he progressed through the ranks and I will be honest, it was a real surprise that he didn’t get a contract. Hopefully that will benefit us, he has an opportunity with us now.”
Matarr M’Boge is Gambia’s U-23 Coach who gave Bojang an opportunity to make his Young Scorpions debut. Speaking to www.gambiaff.org, he was understandably happy that the England-born player made a step up in his development. “I’m very proud to receive the news. In our development work, it is not only about developing players from scratch but also finding gems and helping them to also push on and reach higher level. I’m proud that Ethan has shown his qualities and why he deserves to be part of our setup. He’s a great example to the other players in the group,” he affirmed.