It was confirmed the 18-year-old has signed a new contract, which will run until 2029, shortly before Maresca's press conference this afternoon.

Maresca has admired Acheampong's talents since the Italian arrived at the club, with the defender joining our pre-season trip to the United States.

The England Under-20 international had made his senior debut as a late replacement against Tottenham Hotspur in May, days before his 18th birthday, and made a further substitute outing came against Barrow back in September.

A full debut arrived last week as Acheampong started in our Europa Conference League victory over Astana in Kazakhstan, and the Academy graduate was on the bench again versus Brentford on Sunday.

Maresca said: ‘I am very, very happy. With Josh it has been quite clear, we had him in pre-season and I didn’t know him personally but within two or three days, he really impressed me.

'Since pre-season I have been trying to better understand the situation with him because of his contract and this kind of thing. Finally the club has found an agreement with him and we are all happy because we are all convinced and we are all sure Josh can be a great player for this club.’

Acheampong joined the Blues’ development centre programme as an Under-8 and already has good experience at youth level, both for club and for country, having been part of England squads at the Under-17 European Championships and Under-17 World Cup in 2023.

His versatility makes him a real asset, as he is comfortable across the backline, featuring predominantly at right-back for the first team thus far.

Maresca was asked if he would like to see Acheampong head out on loan in January to gain more first team experience but the head coach is keen to keep working with the defender on a daily basis.

‘My opinion is he has to stay close to us. So as much as we can keep him here, that is much better for me,' he said.

Maresca was also asked about another of our exciting talents from the academy, Tyrique George, and confirmed both of the 18-year-olds were now training with the first team full time.

He said: ‘For sure, Tyrique is going to get minutes [in the coming weeks] and we will try to help him improve day by day, because he is working with us every day - him and Josh - to get minutes in the Premier League.’