Gillingham manager Gareth Ainsworth believes new loan signing Travis Akomeah has the potential to play in the Premier League.
Ainsworth admits he didn’t initially know too much about the 19-year-old defender but received rave reviews from Watford academy director Richard Johnson.
The Gills boss needed defensive cover after a long-term injury to centre-half Conor Masterson, and after digging into Akomeah’s clips, Ainsworth was happy to get the defender in on loan from Championship side Watford until January.
Akomeah – a former Chelsea youngster – made his Gills debut on Tuesday night in the 4-1 Vertu Trophy win over Fulham under-21s.
“Travis was flagged up to me,” said the Gills boss.
“I haven’t seen him live, and I don’t often do that, but I saw his clips and I got some character references on him.
“I played with Richard Johnson, we’re ex-teammates from QPR, so I trust him.
“Richard sent me a real good reference on Travis and said ‘Have a look at this boy’. We think he’s set up, but it’s not just being a good player where he is, it’s ‘Could this boy play at any level? He certainly could.
“He’s got a real presence and a calmness about him. This boy can play in the Premier League, without a doubt, but he also can mix it in League 2 and 1.
“I think Travis will be a great player in time, so it was great to be able to get him in.
“We’ve lost Connor. He’s obviously been seen around the place on crutches and in a boot, that’s going to be a little bit of a long-term injury, so Travis coming in to bolster the squad in that department, that was big for me.”
