When Manchester United signed Gabriel Obertan, it was on the back of waving goodbye to Cristiano Ronaldo. He did not come with much expectation because he was largely unheard of; therefore statements such as “the new Ronaldo” did not come in to play.
The Frenchman, who can play as a striker if required, is primarily a winger as he demonstrates with great potential due to his searing speed. He is clearly a …
Prior to the closing of the January transfer window, there had been a lot of hype surrounding the potential of Adam Johsnon. Well, after signing for Manchester City from Middlesbrough, punters now have there chance to see what the young Johnson has to offer.
He is a product of Middelsbrough’s youth academy, and while his favourite position is left-wing, he is adaptable to playing on the right-hand side. As he showed in his …
We have been hearing lots of good things about new Wigan Athletic signing Victor Moses, his tipping for the top and how Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona were supposedly tracking his progress at Crystal Palace.
Yet what can this young talent bring to the Premier League?
The Nigerian born 19yr old made his way through the Crystal Palace youth ranks and was clearly a special talent.
In the under 14’s side alone Moses …
Footballers’ careers can go in all sorts of directions. Some start at the top and stay there throughout. Ryan Giggs would fit in this category. Others are supposedly destined for greatness but never quite live up to that potential. Danny Cadamarteri is one such example. George Boyd is going about it a different way. He was released by Charlton Athletic at the age of 16 and was told it was unlikely …
While most Premier League and Championship level managers focus on Leeds will primarily be on striker Jermaine Beckford, Leeds United boss Simon Grayson may well be pleased at one aspect of the media circus surrounding his freescoring striker, as it is keeping the focus off another young and very talented Leeds player who looks to have the ability and skills to play at Premier League level one day; 21 year old midfielder and vice captain Jonny Howson.
Howson made the breakthrough into the Leeds first team aged 18 under manager Kevin Blackwell after impressing in the reserves. Blackwell was sacked immediately after Howson’s debut for Leeds in the Carling Cup and new boss Dennis Wise handed Howson his first league start in December 2006 against Hull City. Howson had an exceptional game in midfield, his industry and passing catching the eye and deservedly earning him the Man of the Match award for his performance.
Despite the quick start Howson found himself in and out of the team under Wise and it was only when Gary McAllister became manager that Howson became a regular in the heart of midfield, winning many plaudits with his performances. Howson first really came to national attention however during the 2007-2008 play offs when he had something of a sweetly-bitter experience. The midfielder scoring the two goals against Carlisle United that took Leeds to the play off final, where Leeds lost to Doncaster Rovers a single goal scored by James Hayter. A goal for which many felt Howson was at fault for not marking the Doncaster striker a little more tightly.
A year later and Leeds made the play offs again but this time were defeated at the Semi Final stage by Millwall. For Howson it was an up and down season, the emergence of Fabian Delph initially saw his place in the team under threat, but Howson bounced back to reclaim his regular place in the side by the midpoint of the season and since then, he has been an established and first choice member of the team ever since, eventually earning the honour of being named captain on the eve of the 2009/2010 season when current club captain Richard Naylor was injured. Howson led Leeds to an impressive undefeated start to the season before Naylor returned and his performances since have been outstanding including playing a huge part in the sensational victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford. It was Howson’s fantastic long ball that sent Jermaine Beckford into the clear to score the decisive goal.
What impresses most about Jonny Howson is his all round ability. Nowadays many midfielders are typecast as either defensive midfielders, like Mascherano or attacking midfielders like Gerrard. Howson is a true all rounder in the style of Bryan Robson. He can defend capably, he can create and he can also score goals. He has a fantastic shot on him from distance, he passes accurately and incisively over all distances and he has a tremendous workrate and an application that are a fine example to any player in the game. Physically he is stronger on the ball than he looks and perhaps what Leeds fans like about him the most, is that he is an ardent Leeds supporter and has been since childhood.
Howson certainly has the ability and potential to play at the highest level, but the player may well hope to continue his success at his boyhood heroes in the hope that he can achieve that goal while playing in the all white kit at Elland Road.
Cardiff have developed a reputation for bringing through a number of the best Welsh footballers – the likes of Aaron Ramsey, Chris Gunter and Joe Ledley emerged not too long ago from their academy with the likes of James Collins and Robert Earnshaw also having emerged from the club. The latest prospect to appear on the scene is 18-year-old (from today) right back Adam Matthews, a talented youngster who’s already being linked with multi million pound moves to Arsenal and Manchester United.
Cardiff have a degree of luck on their side as to how they got hold of Matthews; the youngster, who considered playing rugby ahead of football before rejecting Rugby union side Ospreys in favour of a move into football, originally went on trial at local rivals Swansea City and looked set to sign for them. However, Matthews suffered a broken arm and was told to come back to the club when he’d recovered. By the time he did Swansea told him that their youth academy was full and he’d have to look elsewhere.
Matthews didn’t wait around and went for a trial at Cardiff where he was the only one accepted to join the academy out of forty applicants. He signed for Cardiff at the age of 8 and learned his trade, going through the youth teams at the club before making it to the reserves and then eventually being given the call to the first team following his good performances for both Cardiff’s reserves and Wales Under 17’s. Originally a midfielder, Matthews was taught to be a defender as Cardiff coaches saw potential in him becoming a full back.
Matthews first appeared in the Cardiff first team on the 21st of April 2009 as a substitute against Charlton Athletic although he wasn’t brought on. It was a while before he finally played for the first team, coming on as a substitute against Blackpool on the 15th of August. Injuries in the squad then gave Matthews the chance to impress in the first team and he took his chance with both hands – impressing from his first start and earning himself a regular starting spot even when the injured players started to return through his fine performances, mixing attack and defence well with calm, composed displays and good crossing ability. Matthews even managed to score his first goal for the club on the 3rd of October when his 50 yard free kick was misjudged by Watford goalkeeper Scott Loach and went straight in.
Matthews move to the Cardiff first team has gotten him spotted by his international side and Matthews has now made his bow for the Wales Under 21’s and was even called up for the full Wales squad in November although he didn’t make it off the bench. An international debut is surely just around the corner for the talented right back.
So how is the teenager taking his newfound success? Is it getting to his head? No actually, the modest Matthews says
“It’s been a surprising start for me being in the Cardiff City first team already and then called up by Wales for the under-21s squad, I’d not really expected to be in this squad yet, but I’m loving being a part of what is happening.”
His emergence has naturally caught the eye of bigger clubs and it would be no surprise to see Matthews move to a Premiership club in the near future, interest from Manchester United and Arsenal is said to be concrete although Cardiff will fight bitterly to keep hold of their latest star. The future’s bright for the young Welshman though who will definitely appear in the Premiership one day and I’m sure he’ll make a good job of it too.
There was every chance that we wouldn’t see Nile Ranger in professional football today. At just 18 years old, the Newcastle striker has been through a lot already in his life, most of it of his doing. At 15, he was convicted of a street robbery in Muswell Hill and he fell in with the wrong crowd back in London where he grew up. His footballing talents were nearly never realised. Starting out at a young age Crystal Palace’s academy, he was scouted by Southampton but the robbery saw him convicted for 11 weeks in a Young Offenders Institute. Most would not have expected him to be given another chance but Southampton had faith in the striker and signed Ranger up for their academy.
Southampton seemed to be the ideal place for a young striker to learn his trade. Players such as Theo Walcott and Gareth Bale have been through the academy at Southampton, but Ranger would once again blow his chance. After two written warnings for his behaviour, the young striker again broke rules after taking first team kit for his friends, and was chucked out of the academy. Ranger could so easily have returned to London and fallen back into the same crowd as he had done before, but football again came to his rescue.
Dennis Wise had followed his progress at Swindon, and took him to Newcastle once he was established as Director of Football at St James’ Park. Ranger excelled in the youth ranks at Newcastle, scoring regularly at every level, and was named 2009’s most promising player at the club. During Alan Shearer’s brief tenure at the club, the Geordie legend gave the young striker a 3 and a half year contract, after seeing promising signs from the youngster.
Since the departure of senior strikers such as Michael Owen, Ranger has been given the opportunity of starting some games this season. His debut came as an injury time substitute against West Brom at the start of the season and he made his first start at the end of August against Leicester City. It was a very impressive full debut from the youngster as he was made man of the match and was given a standing ovation by the crowd. As a lone front man, he worked tirelessly for the team, holding up the ball and using his considerable height to win the majority of aerial challenges. His work rate off the ball was clear and his skill on the ball brought team-mates into the game, something he did with great ability by providing the assist for Danny Guthrie to score the only goal of the game.
Since his debut, he has been mainly used as a substitute but he scored his first senior goal for the club against Coventry City in a 2-0 away win on 9th December. His goal brought praise from manager Chris Hughton after the match, who used Ranger as an example to how football can turn lives around:
We hope he is showing how football can change lives. He’s also got to take a lot of the credit for that. Football’s very much helping him get his life back on track. Part of the reason why it’s been good for him here is that we’ve hopefully been able to guide him in the important things in the game and the heights he wants to get to. It’s been very much a learning process for him and fortunately we’ve been able to introduce him slowly from the bench as an impact player. If he keeps developing as he is, I’m very sure there will be starts for him. It’s very much a learning process for him. The other players take him aside and help in that process. He’s a London lad and it’s been good for him to come up here and what’s also helped is coming into a good squad with some big personalities and experience players who’ve very much looked after him.
The move up to the North-East has certainly been very beneficial to the young striker. Ranger will no doubt be thankful to Newcastle United if he becomes a star in the Premier League, a possibility which does not seem too remote given his exceptional attributes and his apparent talent in front of goal. There are still some concerns about his discipline as team mates have made him aware about his bad time keeping and his lateness for training but Ranger believes he will never fall back into any old habits:
Coming up here completely changed my life. I grew up in north London, in Wood Green, and I got into trouble. It all starts with just messing around with friends and jokes that go too far. . . Jail was pretty rough, but it taught me a lot. The most important thing I learned is that I never want to go back.
The next stage for Ranger is to become a regular first team player at St James Park, and if he does that, and begins to bang in the goals too, the sky’s the limit for the player. With Newcastle seemingly on their way back to the Premier League next season, watch out for this youngster.
At just 19 years of age Alex Smithies has been linked with almost a quarter of the clubs in the Premiership – West Ham, Stoke, Everton and Tottenham have all been said to be interested in the Huddersfield goalkeeper whilst fans of even bigger clubs have eyed him up as a possibility for their futures. Smithies is still so young but the expectations are that he will be a future England goalkeeper despite the fact that he only has League One football to his name so far.
Smithies is from Huddersfield and signed for his local club when he was very young and worked his way through the ranks at the club. Then in 2007 Smithies was given a shock chance in the first team as a seventeen year old as injuries and suspensions to Huddersfield’s first choice and backup goalkeepers left them in need of someone else to step in. Denied an emergency loan signing Huddersfield turned to the teenager who, despite conceding six goals in his first game and a half, didn’t lose confidence in his abilites.
Goalkeeper Matt Glennon was soon restored to first choice goalkeeper but poor form led to caretaker manager Gerry Murphy dropping him in December 2008 in favour of Smithies. The youngster did not disappoint as he quickly began to shine for the club, making remarkable saves and even stopping penalties. He quickly gained a reputation as a top shot stopper and has been first choice custodian at the club since where plaudits have started coming his way after his consistently good performances alerted both Championship and Premiership clubs. Also alerted were England’s youth teams and Smithies has represented England all the way to Under 19 level.
At an imposing 6’3” in height Smithies is capable of flying across his goal acrobatically to keep the ball safe from the net and his command of his area and distribution which helps the club swiftly counter-attack which is reminiscent of Manchester United legend Peter Schmeichel. By the time Smithies reaches 21 he will have plenty of first team experience to his name and his development will continue to impress – it will be very interesting to see where the youngster ends up but if his young appearances are anything to go by then he will be a Premiership star of the future.
The next rising star of German football is Werder Bremen’s Mesut Özil; he is a midfield playmaker and can also play on the wing. The young German, born of Turkish parents has been making waves in the Bundesliga over recent seasons. His form has also caught the eye of many clubs all over Europe including Arsenal and Barcelona.
The 21 year old started his career with a number of youth …
If you are a fan of football beyond the top flight, then the name Jermaine Beckford won’t be foreign to you. The former Chelsea trainee has been a revelation up in Yorkshire for Leeds since returning from loan at Scunthorpe in 2007.
This season Beckford has already struck 19 times adding to 34 in the previous season and 20 goals the season before that. So with a scoring record like that, why …
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