Lewis Richards has the drive to succeed at Wolves

Richards, a left-sided centre-half, followed in the footsteps of recent winners Morgan Gibbs-White, Connor Ronan and Ryan Giles by taking home the award on Tuesday night at the Telford International Centre.

The 17-year-old defender moved to Wolves from Brentford a couple of years ago and has already featured for Rob Edwards’ under-23 team.

Sporting director Kevin Thelwell said of the youngster: “Lewis in my opinion is a guy who’s been improving game on game, week on week, to the point he’s now surpassing the under-18s and getting opportunities in the under-23s.

“He’s a very technical player who’s got the ability to pass the ball and start off play and help us to build out from the back, but also then very capable physically.

“With all of these players you have to have this inner drive and this want to be better.

“I think he epitomises that and it’s been demonstrated in his performances.”

Edwards hailed Richards’ temperament.

The under-23 boss said: “He’s good in one-v-one situations defensively, comfortable on the ball, he’s got a good range of passing.

“He’s got a good temperament, someone who wants to defend. He’s broken into our team on a couple of occasions now and done well.”

Richards recently made the step of signing professional terms with Wolves midway through a two-year scholarship and looks to have a big future in the game.

Academy chief Scott Sellars added: “I think he’s got a real desire to be a footballer.

“He’s made a massive sacrifice – he came to us at 15 from Brentford when they closed down their academy, so moved from London at 15, went to a local school for a year before he came full time.

“We saw from an early age he had a determination to want to make things happen.

“We’re really happy with him.”