After enjoying a breakout 2024/25 campaign, which saw the Academy graduate feature 14 times and pick up a Conference League winners' medal, Acheampong has kicked on this season. The defender has already surpassed his previous appearance total as well as scoring his first Blues goal against Nottingham Forest.

His development has been noticed by Rosenior, who started him in the first leg of our Carabao Cup semi-final clash against Arsenal and in our 5-0 romp over Charlton Athletic in the FA Cup.

And our head coach believes that the 19-year-old has ‘immense potential’, challenging him recently to play in different positions along the defensive line.

‘Josh is an amazing talent,’ Rosenior explained during his pre-match press conference.

‘In the time I've been here, I've got to meet him and his parents, and you can see why he's such a great lad because he’s been brought up the right way. Josh has immense potential, and what I like to do with all of my defenders – especially at their age – is put them in different positions because it improves them, improves their understanding of the game and improves their positioning.

‘Long term, Josh is a centre-back, and he's got all the attributes to be an outstanding centre-back at a really, really high level. My job is to help him and to develop him, and I'm really looking forward to working with him for a long time.’

Alongside the impressive Acheampong, Rosenior highlighted the work of the defensive unit as a whole and explained his plans for the likes of Trevoh Chalobah, Wesley Fofana and Mamadou Sarr, who was recently recalled from a loan spell at Strasbourg.

‘I don't want to limit them,’ Rosenior continued. ‘Wes Fofana is 24 years old, Trevoh Chalobah has been magnificent. Alongside Josh, there’s Mamadou [Sarr], and Tosin [Adarabioyo] is still young for a centre-back - we want to try to improve all of them.

‘To do that, you need to put them in positions where they may make mistakes, especially in trying to break lines and play forward. I want them to feel like they’re able to do that.

‘Wes has been top in his performances, Trevoh has been great, and they can all find passes if the players are in the right positions to receive the ball. That is what we’ve been working on a lot with them, and hopefully, they continue to improve.’