At the gym earlier today trying to get buff 'n that! 
Anyway, got talking to a bloke about footy who was telling me his brother's son has just been given a contract by SAFC, a 16 year old goalkeeper apparently. (Got his work cut out at Sunderland with all the keepers on show here at the mo!).
Apparently this kid has been playing for Seaham Redstars and Wallsend boys where the scouts have been talking with his dad. They were talking about Wickham and saying that he's everything a scout looks for in England, tall, strong, mobile, powerful. He also went on to say and I quote what I was told "You wouldn't believe some of the skills on show at this level, some kids have got all the talent in the world and can go past people for fun but they just haven't got the physique".
That got me thinking, isn't this wrong? And on the whole are we overlooking youngsters that if given a chance even though they lack maybe height and strength, could still turn out to be absolutely fantastic players? I'm not by any stretch of the imagination saying they'd all be world beaters but players like your Messis, Maradona's, Da Silva's etc, I'm sure you can think of more, you catch my drift, might be getting overlooked purely because they're smaller than average?
If this goes on at Sunderland then I'm sure it'll be the norm nationwide; is that one of the reasons that our international team never, ever does as well as they should, purely because we lack that bit of flair and outright skill? If this is one of the reasons because at a younger age we only look at the powerhouses then maybe something somewhere needs to change??
Anyway, got talking to a bloke about footy who was telling me his brother's son has just been given a contract by SAFC, a 16 year old goalkeeper apparently. (Got his work cut out at Sunderland with all the keepers on show here at the mo!).
Apparently this kid has been playing for Seaham Redstars and Wallsend boys where the scouts have been talking with his dad. They were talking about Wickham and saying that he's everything a scout looks for in England, tall, strong, mobile, powerful. He also went on to say and I quote what I was told "You wouldn't believe some of the skills on show at this level, some kids have got all the talent in the world and can go past people for fun but they just haven't got the physique".
That got me thinking, isn't this wrong? And on the whole are we overlooking youngsters that if given a chance even though they lack maybe height and strength, could still turn out to be absolutely fantastic players? I'm not by any stretch of the imagination saying they'd all be world beaters but players like your Messis, Maradona's, Da Silva's etc, I'm sure you can think of more, you catch my drift, might be getting overlooked purely because they're smaller than average?
If this goes on at Sunderland then I'm sure it'll be the norm nationwide; is that one of the reasons that our international team never, ever does as well as they should, purely because we lack that bit of flair and outright skill? If this is one of the reasons because at a younger age we only look at the powerhouses then maybe something somewhere needs to change??
