Tom Field said it was a dream come true to put pen to paper on a one-year Development Squad deal earlier this week.

The 18-year-old defender impressed for the Youth Team last season, making 25 appearances for Jon De Souza’s side, and featured eight times playing up for the Development Squad.

Since joining The Bees Tom has seen the club rise from a mid-table League One side to one that is pushing for promotion to the Premier League and that, Tom believes, has been mirrored in the quality of players working their way through the Academy.

Speaking to Bees Player after signing his contract Tom said: “I am really happy to sign at such a good club. I have a big background with my family supporting the club so they are proud of me for signing. This is my boyhood dream come true. I have always wanted to be a professional footballer and making it happen is a dream come true.

“The training ground has improved massively with the pitches and the changing rooms and I think all the players have improved with it. The first-team have stepped up dramatically and that means that the intensity has to be a lot higher in every training session just to match the first-team. To get near the first-team you need to be so strong, so fit and so good on the ball.”

Tom feels that getting one step nearer to First-Team football with the Development Squad will show him what he needs to do to make the next step.

With overage First-Team players available to play in Development Squad matches Tom is looking forward to testing himself against Premier League and Sky Bet Championship players.

The 18-year-old also believes that he can learn a lot from watching and taking part in First-Team training sessions and seeing what fellow left-back Jake Bidwell, in particular, does.

“Under-21s will be a lot more physical and the passing is a lot slicker and a lot harder,” said Tom. “You can get exposed more as there is a lot more pressure on you to perform. It is good to see what level you are at when you have experienced players dropping down to play for the Under-21s. It is good to see what they can do and what we can do to get to their level.

“We have to train as hard as we can for as long as we can and play as well as we can. Hopefully we can then get a sniff of the first-team but if we don’t we need to just keep on trying. Jake Bidwell will stay outside after training and just practice his crosses and that is something that I am aiming to do.”

Watch the full interview with Tom below