Last Updated: Fri, 30 Mar 2012 14:09
Steve Kean claims Blackburn's academy is 'probably as good as anywhere in the country' after they reached the Youth Cup final.
The Rovers' chief is delighted after the current youth side defeated local rivals Burnley 3-1 on aggregate over two legs of their semi-final with a combined 20,000 fans watching the two games at Ewood Park and Turf Moor.
And, with Kean happy to bring several young players such as Adam Henley into his first-team plans despite Rovers' current battle to avoid relegation this season, he feels the club has a bright future to come which is why he is determined they remain a Premier League club.
Ahead of Monday's visit of Manchester United, the Scot said "It's been a great week and I think that's going to be a thread that runs right through our club, the number of young players we can get in our team.
"To show now that we can get to the Youth Cup final, we've got a number of academy players already in the team, and it's very good for us that we can continue pushing the young guys through.
"If you look back over the years, if you can get to the Youth Cup final and manage to win it, there's normally three or four of those players that go on to have a good career."
Kean added: "When we played Manchester United before I think we had an average age of 22, one of the youngest in the Barclays Premier League, so I think the future for us is very bright.
"But we need to make sure we maintain our status, that's the first target, and then strengthen and make sure we can improve. But the young ones we've got from academy level right through into the first team are probably as good as anywhere in the country."
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