THE parents of England under-16 international striker, Liam Head, have confirmed that their son will be accepting Argyle's offer of an apprenticeship when he leaves school at the end of the month.

Liam, who was 16 in January, lives at Bovey Tracey, attends South Dartmoor Community College and has been a signed schoolboy player at the Pilgrims' Centre of Excellence since April 2005.

Although his international recognition inevitably aroused the interest of predator Premier League clubs, manager Paul Sturrock succeeded in persuading Liam's parents that it was in their son's best interests to remain at Argyle.

Luggy and his senior coaching aides, Kevin Summerfield and John Blackley, were particularly impressed by the pace and control that the tall teenager showed as a second half substitute for the Reserves in the final home game of the season against Cheltenham Town.

Earlier in the season Liam had helped England under-16's win both the Victory Shield last autumn and the prestigious Montaigu tournament in France at Easter.

In the Victory Shield, played between the 'home' nations, after being an unused substitute in a 2-2 against Northern Ireland at Blackpool, Liam played in the first 66 minutes of a 2-0 win over Wales at Telford and the first 67 minutes of a 2-1 win against Scotland at Falkirk.

Then, at Montaigu, he came on as a 72^nd minute substitute in a 3-1 win against Japan, played the first 60 minutes in the 1-0 win over Germany, the first 60 minutes of a 1-0 defeat by U.S.A. and the first 40 minutes of the Final against France, which ended in a 0-0 draw, with England emerging triumphant in the subsequent penalty shoot-out.

Last month he scored one of Devon school's goals in their victory over Leicestershire in the Final of the national knock-out cup, played at Birmingham City's St. Andrews ground.

Liam's signing means that there will now be seven 16-year-old school-leavers joining head of youth coaching Mike Pejic's squad as new apprentices this summer. The others are:

• Oliver Chenoweth: A goalkeeper from Liskeard, who is a pupil at Liskeard Community College, a Cornwall schools' representative player, and who signed Centre of Excellence forms for us as a 13-year-old in November 2005;

• Sean Kinsella: A midfielder from Stafford, recently released by Stoke City, and a student at Walton High School in Stafford, who plays schools football for Staffordshire and impressed in trials for our youth team during March and April;

• Ryan Leonard: A midfielder from Chaddlewood, near Plympton, who attends Ivybridge Community College, was a member of the Devon schools' under-16 squad and who signed Centre of Excellence forms as a 9-year-old back in June 2001;

• Ciaran Levet: A striker from Yeovil, a student at Preston School in Yeovil, who also plays for the Somerset schools' under-16 squad that reached the quarter-final of the national cup and who signed Centre of Excellence forms as a 13-year-old in April 2005;

• Jordan Trott: A defender from Pennycross, who goes to St. Boniface R.C. School, and also helped Devon win the national schools' under-16 cup at St Andrews last month and who signed Centre of Excellence forms as a 9-year-old in May 2001.

• Chinua Troupe: A right back or right winger from Druids Heath in Birmingham, recently released by West Brom, a pupil at Baverstock High School and who impressed in trial games for our youth team in March and April.

Last seaon Argyle's under-18's reached the quarter-final of the F.A. Youth Cup for the first time in 52 years and won the Puma Youth Alliance South-west Championship for the first time in a decade, so the challenge facing Pej and his new protégées is this: Can they do even better next season?