Barry Town United star Momodou Touray back at Newport County

The 19-year-old forward scored 14 goals for Barry during his season-long loan spell from the Exiles.

A successful campaign also saw Touray win his first Wales under-21 cap and he picked up three prizes at Barry’s end of season awards night last week before being crowned WPL young player of the year at the weekend.

County manager Michael Flynn also confirmed this week that the club has taken up the option of extending the academy graduate’s contract by a further year.

And Touray, who is in the Wales under-21 squad for two friendlies in Albania on June 9 and June 11, is looking forward to returning to pre-season training at the end of the month as he attempts to force his way into Flynn’s plans for the 2019-2020 season.

“I just want to say thanks to everyone that voted for me to win young player of the season,” said the talented teenager.

“There were two other candidates who were brilliant – Tom Holland obviously won the league and the cups with The New Saints and Robbie Patten showed his class for Barry.

“I’m delighted to have won it in front of those two. It was my first season and I didn’t know what to expect but I hit the ground running.

“I thought it was a league where I could get a bit of exposure and that’s what I’ve done this year.

“I was glad that I took the opportunity of going on loan and getting this experience, because it’s helped me a lot.

“I’ve learned a lot about football – how to be disciplined, the physicality, the technical side of it – there’s a lot of things that go into a football match.

“I was in the scholars last year and I didn’t know much. We could make a lot of mistakes and teams wouldn’t punish us.

“But with the experience I’ve got now, I hope I can take that back to Newport and improve my game again.”

Touray, who turns 20 in July, was born in the Gambia but raised in Newport on Chepstow Road, just around the corner from Rodney Parade.

He represented both Newport Corinthians and Villa Dino Christchurch before moving on to the Exiles academy via the County in the Community Futsal and Education programme.

The teenager has previously spent time on loan at Merthyr Town and had a brief 'work experience' trial at Leicester City in January 2018.

He made his senior County debut at Carlisle United on the final day of the 2017-2018 season and Barry manager Gavin Chesterfield is predicting big things for the young striker.

“He’s a great lad,” said the Barry boss. “He’s bought into how we conduct ourselves, how we work and how we like to play.

“It’s not easy for a young lad coming up against some strong defenders in this league.

“It’s not the Football League, but it’s a tough division to score in and he’s got 14 goals in total.

“But Modou offers a lot more than goals. He’s very good with his back to goal and he brings people into play.

“I’d say he’s more of a nine-and-a-half than a number nine or a number 10.

“He’s still got a lot of growing to do, but there’s no doubt he’s got ability,” he added.

“He’s different to the norm – he’s not a traditional academy player, and I mean that in a good way.

“He’s working with great people at Newport and he’s progressing through the Wales age groups as well.

“I’m excited to see what he can achieve.”