Former Leeds United defender Ian Harte has revealed he's "delighted" to see teenager Max McMillan leave the Whites to join Fleetwood Town permanently.Â
The Cod Army announced yesterday that the 18-year-old has signed a professional deal at Highbury after making the switch from Elland Road.
McMillan's contract runs until the end of the 2022/23 campaign, though the club have the option of a one-year extension, and the young forward will join up with Stephen Crainey's Development Squad immediately.
A product of the Whites academy, the 18-year-old has featured for the Yorkshire club's age-group sides in recent years but will now continue his development elsewhere.
It seems Harte, who started his career at Elland Road and made more than 200 appearances for Leeds, is impressed by the deal as he took to Twitter to send McMillan a message of encouragement.
The teenager is a forward but just like Harte, he's developed something of a reputation for scoring fantastic goals – having won League Football Education’s March Goal of the Month competition and turned heads with an impressive free-kick last year.
The verdictÂ
It seems that Harte is happy to see McMillan get a chance to prove his quality elsewhere.
In previous years there has been a clear pathway between the academy and the first team at Leeds but breaking into the side is more difficult now they're a Premier League club.
The outgoing Whites forward will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of Lewie Coyle, who had lots of success at Fleetwood after joining from Leeds.