Benjamin Phillips

Left Midfielder - AFC Wimbledon U18
2 Aug 2028
Wednesday
Process

Marked for Benjamin Phillips

56 Edition

The AFC Wimbledon Herald

23 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

AFC Wimbledon make Bae Jun-Ho the dearest name in their history

$6.0M. Fees like that buy a footballer and rent a debate: every touch will be measured against the number for a season at least.

The dugout

Joe Gauci: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AFC Wimbledon have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Jesse Derry at 20 — 8.02

The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jesse Derry did not need any: 8.02, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Market

Antwoine Hackford asks to leave AFC Wimbledon

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Match

A bad afternoon for AFC Wimbledon against Wigan Athletic

3‑4 to Wigan Athletic, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Match

Jesse Derry among the goals in a wild afternoon

7 goals in one match, Jesse Derry on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of AFC Wimbledon and Wigan Athletic.

Boardroom

Graduation day at AFC Wimbledon

5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.

The terraces

AFC Wimbledon spend $6.0M on the signing the town wanted

It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $6.0M for Bae Jun-Ho, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.

Transfer targets

Millwall tell AFC Wimbledon: Marcus Edwards is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

In brief