AFC Wimbledon have sold goalkeeper Spike Brits to Premier League champions Manchester City for a club-record fee for an academy player.

Wimbledon have not disclosed the fee Manchester City have paid for Brits.

He is the third England youth player to leave the club in the past year after Archie Stevens joined Rangers and Leon Chiwome moved to Wolves.

“This is a bittersweet moment for us as an academy because Spike is someone who we’ve seen develop from being a young boy to a young man and that story would have had a beautiful ending if he had progressed and played for the first team,” Dons academy manager Michael Hamilton told the club website.

“This opportunity affords him the chance to take his potential into an elite environment, it’s an opportunity of a lifetime.”

                    An update on Spike Brits

Talented goalkeeper departs

AFC Wimbledon’s Academy Manager Michael Hamilton has provided the following update on Spike Brits.

In the last 12 months we’ve seen the emergence of Huseyin Biler, Jack Currie and Isaac Ogundere and we are currently in the process of signing our new scholars for next season, all of whom we are very excited about.

This is another indicator of the significant progress that has been made within our Academy set-up as we continue to produce footballers that are capable of not only stepping into the first-team environment but thriving in it.

In addition to players thriving with us, we have also seen a selection of players move on to clubs higher up the pyramid, with goalkeeper Spike Brits being the latest to join this group.

Now aged 16, Spike originally joined our Academy as an Under-9. Last year his significant progress was recognised when he received his first international call-up for England at youth level.

Since then Spike has won eight caps and this year helped England Under-16s to win the Mondial Montaigu Tournament, further enhancing his reputation as one of the best players of his age range.

We are now in a position to confirm that Spike has joined Premier League champions Manchester City for a record fee received by AFC Wimbledon for an Academy player.

This is a bittersweet moment for us as an Academy because Spike is someone who we’ve seen develop from being a young boy to a young man and that story would have had a beautiful ending if he had progressed and played for the first-team.

This opportunity affords him the chance to take his potential into an elite environment, its an opportunity of a lifetime.

It’s never clean to measure the impact of a specific person or event in a player’s development but his progress has been supported by Jack Matthews (Head of Coaching), Ashley Bayes (First-Team Goalkeeping Coach), Craig  Longstaff (Academy Goalkeeper Coach), Jordan Knight (ex-Academy Goalkeeper Coach) but more importantly, himself and his family.

Spike’s love for goalkeeping has been there long before a pair of gloves fitted him but his mindset over the last 36 months or so is an example to all young players.

He racks up hundreds of miles cycling per week – whenever I message him he is just finishing a gym session, he’s always leading and guiding the younger players and his education and studying is exemplary. His parents, Colin and Paula, have always let him be the best version of himself without putting pressure on him and I know they are really proud of him.

Spike is the third England youth international to be transferred from the Academy in the last 12 months (after Archie Stevens and Leon Chiwome), which is unheard of for an Academy in our category. This is testament to the staff we have here, who work tirelessly to maximise our resource.

From a fan perspective I appreciate it’s never good to see a young player leave the Club but for every one player we ‘lose’, I’d like us to focus on the ones that do progress.

Everyone at AFC Wimbledon wishes Spike every success for the future and we look forward to monitoring his progress closely.