Moult became the club's youngest player to appear in the Premier League when he came on as a substitute at Burnley recently and he kept his place in the squad against Aston Villa last weekend. The 17-year-old Academy graduate has now signed his first professional contract and Tony Pulis admits he has been delighted by the striker's progress. "Louis has made fantastic progress this season and he thoroughly deserves this chance to become a professional," Pulis told the club's official website. "But I am also delighted for Adrian Pennock and the rest of the Academy set-up for their work in bringing him through the ranks. "This is an area of the club which we are looking to improve because it will make a big difference to our hopes of achieving sustained success at this level if we can produce more of our own players who go on to make the first team." Chief Executive Tony Scholes added: "I would like to congratulate Louis on being handed his first professional contract here at Stoke City. He is a fantastic lad with a superb attitude and this is just reward for all of the hard work he has put in since joining our Academy at a very young age. "The fact that he was born just one mile away from the stadium, and has progressed all the way through the ranks here at the Club is also very pleasing and I am sure the supporters will take Louis in as one of their own. "This should be an inspiration to others at a time when we are also developing excellent facilities for the Academy to use at Clayton Wood, so I am hoping that he will be joined by others in our first team squad in the future."
