Forest Green are delighted to announce the first professional contract for Jose Marquez!

The young forward has caught the eye in three National League Cup appearances and whilst on loan at Hungerford Town, finding the net on a regular basis.

The 19-year-old already has 10 goals to his name in 2025 with two goals against Blackburn U21s and eight for the Southern League Premier South side.

Eagle-eyed supporters may have also noticed that Marquez has also been training with the first team down at the Candriam Training Centre, featuring in social media photos.

On the signing of his contract, Head of Academy, Yan Klukowski said: "This is a wonderful moment for Jose, his family and the Academy. Jose's hard work, dedication and quality have been present throughout his journey and he has certainly earned the opportunity to sign professional terms at FGR.

"Jose joined us as an U13 in our first year as a Category 3 Academy and he has shown continuous development in his game, along with huge personal growth.

"Jose's direction of travel through the FGR pathway has certainly had its ups and downs, no more so when he suffered a significant knee injury during the first year of his Scholarship.

"The mental toughness and resilience Jose demonstrated to come back from that injury, allowing him to return to a high level of play is an important message to any footballer especially those within our Academy that you can suffer a major setback and still achieve great things."