Birmingham City and Stoke City are interested in signing Ollie Dewsbury permanently, with a loan to a National League club also a possibility for the young striker
Bristol Rovers academy notebook with the latest on Ollie Dewsbury and Kian Hill - (Photo: Rachel Le Poidevin/PPAUK), Bristol Rovers FC(Image: (Photo: Rachel Le Poidevin/PPAUK), Bristol Rovers FC)
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Bristol Rovers have produced some impressive players in their academy over the years. Tom Lockyer came through the youth system and went on to captain Luton Town in the Premier League, while the likes of Chris Lines and Ellis Harrison forged successful careers in the EFL after graduating from the club's academy.
Kofi Shaw was the latest success story, joining the Gas at 14 and playing 19 times for the first team before joining Brighton & Hove Albion in August 2025 for what was reported at the time as a "significant undisclosed fee," which was "expected to reach the seven-figure mark."
With the 2026/27 season underway, we’ve put together our first Rovers academy notebook, looking at the Under-18’s unbeaten start in the league, players out on loan at non-league clubs, and the latest on Kian Hill and Ollie Dewsbury.
Unbeaten start to league season
Rovers Under-18s finished 17th out of 20 teams in last season’s EFL Youth Alliance South. The current campaign has started far more positively, though, with four points from the opening two league games.
The Gas began the new season with a 3-0 win against Bromley Under-18s, before coming behind twice on Saturday to draw 2-2 with Portsmouth’s Under-18s.
Charlie Ball and Deji Odumboni scored the goals against Pompey, while a brace from Lucas Frisby and a penalty from Ciaran O’Donnell secured the opening day victory against the Ravens.
Next up is a home game against Oxford United on Saturday, who have also picked up four points from their opening two league matches.
Players out on loan
We saw the benefits of young players going out on loan last season. Hill scored six goals and registered one assist at Bristol Manor Farm on his way to becoming Rovers' Academy Player of the Season, while Ollie Dewsbury scored three goals in 18 appearances for Weston-super-Mare in the National League South.
Like Hill, Henry De-Long will also be looking to impress at The Creek, after joining the club on a month’s loan late last week.
He made his debut for Bristol Manor Farm on Saturday, August 15, and the young defender was man of the match in a 0-0 draw against Portland United.
Meanwhile, Jay Horgan is the most recent Rovers academy player to go out on loan. On Tuesday, August 18, Didcot Town released the following statement after adding Horgan to their ranks.
"Didcot Town are delighted to welcome Jay Horgan to the club from League Two side Bristol Rovers," they said.
"Jay is a creative midfielder who joins the club on a work experience loan deal from Bristol Rovers, where he has been in the academy since the age of nine.
"Didcot have a good association with the Bristol Rovers academy, having had both Brooklyn Leipus and Rocco Sughayer at the Loop Meadow Stadium in recent seasons.
"Welcome to the Loop, Jay!"
Kian Hill latest
On July 22, Rovers announced that Hill had signed "professional terms" with the Gas after making his debut for the first-team in the Vertu Trophy against Cheltenham Town last season.
After his successful stint at The Farm, it is expected that he will go out on loan again in the 2026/27 campaign.
During pre-season, the young midfielder went on a youth experience loan to National League side Yeovil Town, with assistant manager Paul Raynor explaining the agreement on July 18.
"They like the look of Kian," he said. "Obviously, they've seen him play in our youth sides, and obviously on loan last season. We would have loaned him out anyway to get experience.
"They've asked him to come on trial in terms of whether they would like to have him on loan. So it was just an opportunity. They have to call it a loan; it's a trial period to see whether they want to take him on a permanent loan.
"So, apparently, he played 80 minutes last night, did very well," Raynor added. "So hopefully, it goes well for him, and he can go and get some National League experience this season."
However, ahead of Rovers' first competitive match of the new season, Steve Evans confirmed that Hill had "come back" from his short spell at the Glovers.
On August 7, the manager said: "No, he's come back from that. So Yeovil wanted to look at Kian and we felt it was good for him to go and play in Yeovil’s pre-season activity as opposed to playing a lot of youth fixtures, so you go and play against men - he’s done that.
"We brought him back in-house, but Kian’s another player that will certainly go out on loan, and we've not seen a lot of him in this pre-season because we've been making sure that at first-team level we’re right.
"But he's a young man I'm sure will be around as the season progresses.
"But it's probably the same as Ollie [Dewsbury] and Ryan [Howley] in that there'll be a loan move."
The 18-year-old is highly-rated at Rovers, and a non-league loan in the National League or National League South feels like the logical next step.
Ollie Dewsbury latest
On Monday, July 20, we reported that Dewsbury was training with Everton, after several clubs registered an interest in the 18-year-old, including Arsenal, Stoke City, and Fulham.
Raynor confirmed that the young striker was training with the Toffees a day later. "He’s training with Everton," he said. "Basically, he’s training with Everton. Hope he does really well. He’s a good lad. He’s got some real talent.
"What Everton see in that, we’ll wait and see what the feedback is from them on that. But it’s nice that one of our younger players is getting that attention.
"Hope he goes up there and learns and even if nothing happens with it, I’m sure he’ll learn a lot from training with those type of players."
So, what’s happened since? In the pre-Peterborough United press conference, Evans revealed that the Toffees' Under-21s decided against signing Dewsbury, despite him impressing in trial games against Shrewsbury Town and Sheffield United.
The manager said: "No, nothing will come of that, but I think they just wanted to get him up and assess him.
"I think that the way that the elite, the Premier League clubs, if you like, are doing now, they're going around the country and they're plucking all the 17 and 18-year-olds and taking them in-house with the clubs' permission to have a look at them just to judge whether they can kick on.
"But the brief back from Everton at academy level, because it was not first-team level, David wouldn't have got involved in it, David Moyes.
Ollie Dewsbury of Bristol Rovers warms up during the Pre Season match between Bristol Rovers and Portsmouth at The Memorial Stadium, Bristol on 18 July 2026 (Photo: Rachel Le Poidevin/PPAUK)
Ollie Dewsbury of Bristol Rovers warms up during the Pre Season match between Bristol Rovers and Portsmouth at The Memorial Stadium, Bristol on 18 July 2026 (Photo: Rachel Le Poidevin/PPAUK)
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"And so the brief back from them is they'll continue to monitor his progress, which is good. We love Ollie, he’s a good kid, he’s got a good future we think, but, you know, now he just needs to settle back down and focus on being here."
When asked by BBC Radio Bristol whether a loan might benefit Dewsbury at some point this season, Evans added: "He’ll certainly go on loan. That would be the view unless he doesn't want to go out and play football. You know he's not quite ready for where we are, but he's a kid.
"And because he was introduced so early, you know, at 17, then I can understand at times he may be frustrated because he comes in and watches the games, and every player should think they should be on that pitch, but no, a loan is looking likely."
Bristol Live understands that Birmingham City and Stoke are interested in signing Dewsbury permanently, with a loan move to a National League club also a possibility following September 1. This is because non-league teams don’t have a designated transfer window to complete deals, like sides in the EFL.