Strong academic senior school in London for good (academy level) footballer

[Lily7050]

I have read Whitgift has professional football coaches. Hampton is mentioned as the next level down in football. Both schools are long way to commute. Our nearest schools are Latymer Upper and Emanuel. Am I correct to assume that Emanuel and LU will not provide the level of football coaching that DS will get in Whitgift? Then DS will have to travel to various locations for training sessions after school hours. Would training at Whitgift be sufficient for an academy level player? I am just trying to get an idea if it is better spend more time to prepare for LU and Emanuel, which I expect are more difficult to get into, and have short commute to school, or commute to Whitgift for better football training.

It's not a usual combination, so hard to say.

Generally, in my experience - a high level sport and really academic school do not go together, for the obvious reasons.
You can try to do both for a short time in middle school - but eventually, you'll need to make a choice for your DS as to which path gets more priority.