Academy Watch

[Cottager58]

No doubt we have an Academy to be envied; from Motspur Park to the coaches to the players. And it's been recognised with the U21 team being invited to join the Checkatrade Trophy alongside the 'big names'. Our first time in the trophy and a chance to show real ambition.

Anyway, felt a thread in recognition and to talk about our young players specifically was justified. First up is Chris Kelly who signed his first professional contract yesterday.

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Young Chris made his debut for the U18s last season but has been a regular this year, with 22 games under his belt. The talented right winger, who loves taking on defenders, also managed 2 goals.

 

[Cottager58]

And next up is Matt O'Riley. Another young man who signed his professional forms with the Club last week.

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No need to say too much about Matt, since he and his sweet left foot have been mentioned a fair few times on this forum last season. Will repeat one incredible achievement though, of making an U23 debut at the tender age of 16. And it's more than worth noting that he is currently with the First Team squad out in Poland.

Not so many years ago I was quite inspired by our Academy and their Dallas Cup exploits. The current crop have the makings of something special however. Pretty sure that one very proud father from here will echo that, eh what Doriley!

 

[Captain Morgan]

Hearty congrats to you, Matt and all concerned Doriley. Hopefully we'll see him in a first team line up before too long. Living the dream!

 

[Cottager58]

The Club have confirmed a clutch of Academy signings:

"Striker Elijah Adebayo has agreed a contract extension that keeps him with the Whites until 30th June 2018.

Also, the following scholars have signed professional deals which ties them to Fulham until the summer of 2019: Taye Ashby-Hammond, Jose Garrido, Jayden Harris, Vishna Kelly, Nicolas Santos Clase, and Reece York."

 

[Cottager58]

There are of course a fair number of teams across different age groups across the Academy set up and we don't hear very much about them from the Club. For instance, the U15s team who came 3rd in an international tournament in Holland at the end of May. In there was one young man William Moravek seen here celebrating his 15th Birthday with a couple of mates, a week ago today -

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William's father - Bill, so their's no confusion - was an accomplished athlete in his own right and now runs 'soccer' schools all over the place. Possibly the best known is Bethesda Academy in Washington DC. Yup, Dad Bill is an American but he's been over this side a while. Indeed back in 2001 to 2003 he was a coach at Southampton's Academy; same time as they were bringing on the likes of Gareth Bale and Nathan Dyer. So, reckon Dad Bill knows a thing or two when it comes to making sure his son is part of a proper Academy.

Come On You Young Whites.

 

[Cottager58]

One to keep an eye on is Fabio Carvalho. The young attacking midfielder, who is 14 (his 15th birthday is in August), made his debut for the U18s in their thrashing of Peterborough at the weekend - and scored!

Fabio joined us from Balham FC last year. Born in Portugal he has played for the Portuguese U15 side and back last December turned out for England U15s in a game against Turkey. England lost but the young man acquitted himself well.

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Footnote: Balham Blazers are a prodigious club producing real talent at all age groups, having won a whole wodge of cups across the London area. Worth a look at their site -

http://www.balhamblazers.org.uk/news.htm

 

[Cottager58]

As well as Matt O'Riley a number of other lads have signed Scholarships -

Ryan De Havilland, Scott Armsworth, Showkat Tahir, Luca Ashby-Hammond, Sonny Hilton, and Zico Asare


Their have been signings at the more senior level as well. We already knew about Timmy Abraham from Charlton but also there is -

Ben Davies from JSSL Singapore and Elias Frei - Kerim's younger brother - from FC. St Gallen AG.

 

[Cottager58]

Another young man with quite some talent is Foday Nabay. His story is very different however.

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The England youth international joined us from Birmingham amidst a bit of a fanfare in the summer of 2013, at a cost of £220,000. Foday, only 14 at the time, signed scholarship forms the following year. For a couple of years he was a regular midfielder in the U18 side and during that period signed a professional contract till the summer of 2018.

He started getting games for the U21s and then the wheels came off somewhat. There's no doubt a serious injury played a part, as did the emergence of Dennis Adeniran. More importantly though, his work rate and attitude were being called into question. One view was that Foday was more interested in living like a professional footballer before actually being one.

Whatever, he was sidelined for pretty much all of last season; only making two U23 appearances. Fair play to the Club however and with a year left on his contract they've opted to give him that 'last chance' and are negotiating a loan for him to Aldershot - he played in a pre-season friendly for them against Brentford a week ago today.

Due to turn 19 in August, it's now down to Foday himself.

 

[Cottager58]

A week ago Ben Davis signed a 2 year scholarship, yesterday he scored his first goal for the U18s.

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The 16 year old was born in Thailand, but gained Singapore citizenship in 2009 and has represented them at various youth levels. He joined us from JSSL Singapore where his Dad, Harvey, runs the JSSL Arsenal Soccer School. Speaking about his son, Harvey told the New Paper,

“As a father, I am extremely proud of my son. He is now the first Singaporean footballer to have an opportunity to play at the highest levels in England and
Fulham FC have one of the best academies in England."

There is one issue looming on the horizon which could blunt his time with us however. At or about the time Ben could sign a professional contract at the Club, he could also be called up for National Service in Singapore. It's very possible that could be deferred but the issue of how to treat young national athletes who are 'on the cusp of the big time' is quite a debate in his country. Short of leading Fulham to the Championship title or Singapore to a place in the FIFA World Cup, the odds are currently not in his favour.

Dad Harvey is hopeful though and said, “we have been engaging with various authorities over his national service deferment”. Whatever happens in the future let's sit back and enjoy Ben prospering in the Fulham Academy.

 

[Cottager58]

Tayo Edun has signed a new 3 year contract which takes him up to 2020.

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Only just turned 19, Tayo made his debut for the U18s in season 2013/14 at the age of 15. Primarily a left back his appearances were not that many because of the displays of the regular Jordan Evans. They were impressive enough though to get him a call up for England U17s. The following season he moved up to the U21s and by the second half of the season he was the one becoming a regular.

Possibly, probably to accommodate both him and Evans, he was played left midfield and that's become his main position. The Gaffer obviously saw his potential and he spent the whole of last year's pre-season with the First Team, and getting a place on the bench in that 'historic' 1-0 win over Newcastle in the opening League game. His debut was in the League Cup win over Leyton Orient soon after.

Since then he's been a stalwart in the U21/U23 side and still very much in Jokanovic's eye. England's too, as he progressed through to the international U19 team and of course was part of European Championship winning side.

 

[Cottager58]

"Fulham's Got Talent" with 10 year old Ma'kel Campbell. A pupil of Prendergast Ladywell school in Lewisham, he joined us last year from the Arsenal Academy ... but hey, let the youngster speak for himself -

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[Cottager58]

Another young man with quite some talent is Foday Nabay. His story is very different however.

Fair play to the Club however and with a year left on his contract they've opted to give him that 'last chance' and are negotiating a loan for him to Aldershot - he played in a pre-season friendly for them against Brentford a week ago today.

Due to turn 19 in August, it's now down to Foday himself.

Not sure where this one is going. Foday returned to the Club earlier this week after Aldershot decided not to take him on.

Source: http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/sport/fo...ldershot-town-decide-against-signing-13359703

Today, he is in the U23 team playing a friendly against Bournemouth at Motspur Park.

 

[Cottager58]

"Fulham's Got Talent" with 10 year old Ma'kel Campbell. A pupil of Prendergast Ladywell school in Lewisham, he joined us last year from the Arsenal Academy ... but hey, let the youngster speak for himself -

And here is the 'Full Neymar' -

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[Cottager58]

Another lad who signed professional forms this week is Tyrese François.

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Born in Sydney Australia, the 15 year is a 'product' of the Coombe Boys School programme. Partnered with our Academy the school has produced a steady stream of talent for a number of years and among the current crop, as well as Tyrese, there is the Sessegnon twins, Chris Kelly and Cameron Thompson.

Tyrese himself has been at the Club since the age of 9 or maybe 10 - he was certainly playing with us in the Finow Cup back in 2013. This year the right sided midfielder has made his debut for the U18s in pre-season games and ... getting amongst the goals. This particular one demonstrates his ball control and how he can ride tackles -

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.

 

[Cottager58]

Not everyone might be aware of the Finbow Cup mentioned in the last post. Here's the group of youngsters that played in the tournament back in 2013 -

http://www.finowcup.de/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/FULHAM-FOOTBALL-CLUB.pdf


Before tabbing down to the names, see if you recognise the lads that are currently on the fringe of something good. One person on here will for sure instantly pick out a young man who has been in all pre-season games, and still is training with the first team squad - a quite incredible achievement.

 

[Cottager58]

An U19 team has headed for Switzerland to take part in the Aesch International Tournament. The lads arrived yesterday for a couple of days training ahead of the competition starting on Saturday . Don't have any specific details yet, other than this snippet from the host's site:

"Taking part are teams from last year, winners FK Red Star Belgrade and FC Basel, Juventus, Hamburger SV, and Fulham FC" .


EDIT: No sooner said than the Club post something. And in fact the first fixture is today v Juventus kick off 4pm our time. Here's a link -

http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2017/july/28/academy-aesch-international-tournament

 

[Cottager58]

Having beaten Juventus yesterday the lads had a 3-1 win over the hosts Aesch this morning. So, they're guaranteed a place in the semi finals.

Scores were Jerome Opoku, Jayden Harris and Tyrese Francois. How's this for the second from Jayden?

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[Cottager58]

The team that beat Aesch was:

1 Taye Ashby-Hammond.
2 Steven Sessegnon.
3 Dan Martin.
4 Reece York.
5 Jaydn Mundle-Smith.
6 Jerome Opoku.
7 Foday Nabay.
8 Jayden Harris.
9 Elijah Adebayo.
10 Matias Kait.
11 Jon Dagur Thorsteinsson

Subs:

14 Joe Felix.
16 Tyrese Francois.
17 Cameron Thompson.

Also in the squad are:

Julian Schwarzer
Atli Andrason
Nicolas Sante Clase

 

[Cottager58]

The lads drew 1-1 with Red Star this afternoon to take top spot in their Group. Semi-final beckons tomorrow morning - think it's against Liverpool !!

 

[Cottager58]

Fantastic. The U19s beat Liverpool 3-1 in the semi final. Gerard's face said it all - Fulham were the best side by a country mile.

Jayden Harris, Elijah Adebayo and Jon Dagur Thorsteinsson got our goals.