Manchester United Emerging Talent Manager joins Chelsea

Mildenhall was hired in 2019 to head up the pioneering scheme, having previously been Primary Schools Manager for the Manchester United Foundation. 

Writing on LinkedIn, she said: “It was an extremely tough decision to leave the club that has been an absolute pleasure to work for over the last 10 years.

“I was privileged to join the Academy in 2019 to create, develop and manage the Emerging Talent Department. I will be forever grateful to Nick Cox (Academy Director) and Steve Higham (Head of Academy Football Operations) for giving me the opportunity to join the Academy, both were incredibly supportive throughout my time in the Academy. 

“The Emerging Talent department is an area of the Academy I will always be extremely proud of. We finished last season with a milestone of 50 boys signing from grassroots football into the Academy, more than 350 boys signing to other professional Academies, 3,000 local grassroots coaches signed up to our Friends of the Academy initiative and hundreds of schools, grassroots clubs, players and parents hopefully having had a truly fantastic experience at this wonderful club. 

“I am so thankful to all the staff who worked tirelessly to give all the children and young people we worked with the best experience possible and all the staff across the Club who supported us without a second thought. There are too many to name but you know who you are and I can’t thank you enough!”

There were three main areas of focus for the Emerging Talent Programme: schools, grassroots clubs and coaches, and the Emerging Talent Centre based at the AON Training Complex.