Hunter urges SWPL clubs to prioritise academies

Emma Hunter, head of the girls' academy at Hearts, stresses academies "need to keep up" with the growth of Scottish women's football as more and more clubs look abroad for players.

Hunter, who was head coach of Aberdeen before moving to the Edinburgh club, added clubs need to prioritise their academy too and "not just think of the here and now".

Just last week, Eva Olid added Dutch defender Danique Ypema from Feyenoord before American striker Ashley Williams signed on Tuesday.

"One of the big key messages when I came into this role was that you can see the women's game growing even in Scotland," Hunter said on the BBC's Behind the Goals podcast.

"[Clubs are] buying players from abroad, they're bringing in players and spending money, but we need to make sure we're keeping up and we're producing young players too.

"It saves money and it's something that we want to continue to do so they're ready to go."

In the last year, teenage twins Erin and Jessica Husband, among others, have impressed in the Hearts first team having come through the academy.

"We've got young talent representing our national team, all the way through our youth national squad up to our senior national squad," Hunter added.

"We just need to keep up as academies and make sure that clubs also prioritise their own academy because it's easy to spend a lot of money on getting the best players you can do for there and then, but if you think about how much you can save in the future, that's the key part for me, that we're all behind that message."