Striker Tobi Adeyemo has signed his first professional contract with Watford.

The 18-year-old put pen to paper this week on a three-year deal - which the club have an option to extend by a further year - to cap off a true breakthrough season.

Adeyemo made national media headlines when he came off the bench to score four minutes into his home league debut, a 2-0 win over Blackpool in January.

“I’m over the moon to sign my first professional contract at such a special club like Watford,” said Adeyemo.

“It means a lot to me having come through here all the way from Under-14s until now.

“This season has been amazing for me. Coming on and scoring in front of the home fans, doing it at 17 and becoming the club’s eighth youngest-ever scorer means so much to me."

It was two years ago that Adeyemo signed on as a scholar, and he looked back on that moment and said: “If I was advising me back then, it would have been to work hard, continue to have faith and belief and remember dreams do come true. Stick at the grind and things will happen.

“I’ll cherish this moment for the rest of my life, and I’m so happy to share it with my family as they have sacrificed a lot for me. My Mum and Dad used to do things like cancel work shifts to take me to training. I dedicate this to them.”

It’s great success for the club’s Academy, and Academy Director Richard Johnson was delighted.

“It’s great for Tobi having been at the club for a good few years now,” he said.

“The exposure he had with the first team was fantastic, and he scored a goal on top of that.

“The contract gives him a bit of stability, and puts his mind at rest about being here in the future. He’s been rewarded for his efforts and hard work.

“As a kid he’s grown over the two years that he’s been a scholar. He was raw when he came in, but he’s matured as a person and as a player.”

Seeing a homegrown player progress to earn a professional contract will hopefully help inspire other youngsters throughout the club.

“We get asked a lot by agents and parents about the pathway for young players at Watford, and we always say that the pathway is determined by the players. If they’re good enough they will get opportunities,” said Johnson.

“There were a few lads who made their debuts around the same time as Tobi and it was due to circumstances because we had a lot of injuries, but they took their chance and stayed around the squad.

“Younger players we have at the club can look up at Tobi and think there is an opportunity for me at Watford.”

Head coach Chris Wilder said he has been impressed by what he’s seen from a number of the club’s younger players.

“I haven’t really seen too much of the younger Academy boys because I’m concentrating on the first team, but I’ve seen the last two Under-21 games and I’ve been really impressed,” he said.

“The Academy is really important, and if you invest in it then you want it to produce players.

“We’ve had a few of them training with us – James Morris has been there a while, we’ve added in Ryan Andrews and Adrian Blake, and there are many more we want to see progress. Tobi is one of those.

“We want to have that pathway connecting the Academy to the first team, and supporters want to see homegrown talent coming through.

“So well done to Tobi, it’s his first contract – now he needs to go on and earn another one, and then another one.

“Whenever I speak to a young player I always say there will be opportunities, but you have to go and earn the right to them and be good enough.”