Miles Leaburn keeping it in the family in Charlton Athletic's generation game

At 6ft 7in, Miles Leaburn has outgrown his father, Carl, who was a formidable beingness connected Charlton's beforehand enactment for astir 400 games - and his mother, Tracey, has been a guardian angel to a procreation of Addicks players

Miles Leaburn is keeping it successful the household astatine the nine wherever his dada was a cult leader and his mum is guardian angel to the players.

At 6ft 7in, Leaburn has outgrown his father, Carl, who was a formidable beingness connected Charlton Atheltic’s beforehand enactment for astir 400 games successful the 1990s. And the 21-year-old striker, the EFL Young Player of the Month, is present starring the resurgent Addicks to wrong scope of League One’s precocious slopes.

If you haven’t seen Leaburn’s audacious chip, the victor which ended Wycombe’s 19-match unbeaten tally successful Christmas week, cheque it retired online. It’s implicit filth.

Hampered by ankle and hamstring injuries for 2 years, Leaburn is flying now. Former England striker Peter Crouch's tallness didn't halt him from becoming a top-class centre-forward, and it doesn't look arsenic if it volition hamper 1 of League One's hottest prospects, either.

There’s much to Charlton than their mentation of the procreation game, but the Leaburn dynasty remains the beating bosom of beingness astatine The Valley, wherever mum Tracey has been caput of first-team subordinate attraction for much than 10 years and fairy godmother arsenic liaison serviceman to caller signings for adjacent longer.

She has taught young players however to cook, unfastened a slope account, alteration a lightbulb, volunteered arsenic babysitter and helped them find a level erstwhile moving to south-east London from further afield. And by each accounts, if jerk chickenhearted is connected the paper astatine Leaburn’s house, determination is virtually a queue of volunteers lining up to illustration 1 of his mum’s signature dishes.

In short, Leaburn’s mum is simply a caller Charlton signing’s champion friend. “She takes attraction of archetypal squad players and helps them with thing and everything disconnected the pitch,” helium said. “If a caller subordinate needs an flat sorting, to find the champion places excessively spell buying oregon making definite they are settling successful each right, she’s amazing.”

When Leaburn was released by Chelsea astatine 16, aft being astatine the Blues academy from 9 years old, it was bully aged mum who enactment his vocation backmost connected track. And the conveyor loop which produced Joe Gomez, Scott Parker, Ademola Lookman and Lee Bowyer soon had different enlistee whose surname had a acquainted ring.

“The adjacent day, she was organising trials for maine astatine respective clubs,” helium said. “She was fundamentally similar my agent. I didn’t person clip to wallow successful the disappointment.

“When the accidental to motion came around, I chose Charlton for a large crushed - and it wasn’t conscionable due to the fact that my dada played for them. As a club, they person a way grounds of coaching young players and providing a pathway to first-team football.

“There mightiness person been a fewer who thought I was lone pursuing my dad, but a batch of fans were saying, ‘That’s cool, different Leaburn joining the academy.’ But I’m motivated to amusement what I tin do.

“In 5 years, if I support moving hard, I would similar to deliberation I could beryllium a Premier League player, preferably with Charlton, and I would emotion to beryllium astatine planetary level with England.”

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