Rovers have announced the signing of a 19-year-old midfielder Lyle Della-Verde on a one-month loan deal from Championship side Fulham. He started his career as a youth player at Tottenham Hotspur before being released. He then joined Southend United, where he was an unused substitute for the first team on more than one occasion. He then moved to Fulham, as a first year scholar, in August 2011 and was a member of the squad that became National Academy champions in 2011/12. Della-Verde scored hat-tricks for the Fulham Under-18s against Watford and Bristol City, before an ankle ligament injury prevented him making an appearance for the Cottagers in the Premier Academy League Final. The teenager was promoted to the Under-21 squad at Craven Cottage for the 2013/14 season and netted his first two goals at that level in a 3-1 win against Blackburn Rovers. With Andy Monkhouse suspended and Jake Gosling shortly set to be away on international duty with Gibraltar, Rovers boss Darrell Clarke insisted that was important to bring in an extra player to cover the wide areas. Reflecting on his new signing, Clarke said: âI've watched the Fulham Development squad on a number of occasions and like the way they play and Lyle is someone who has caught my eye. He's young, but has had a good grounding at Southend and Fulham and I'm sure that he will be a valuable member of the squad whilst he's with us. He will meet the rest of the lads this morning before his first training session and will join the squad that travels up to Tranmere for Saturday's FA Cup tie.â Rovers Chairman Nick Higgs added: "We are delighted to welcome Lyle to the Memorial Stadium and hope that he enjoys a successful month with us. We are pleased to be able to bring in a young player from a club that was in the Premiership last season and who has done very well at Under-18 and Under-21 level for Fulham and we are certain that he will add to the quality of Darrell's first team squad."
Taken from his profile page on the Fulham official site..... "Capable of operating on either flank or in the middle, underneath the tricks and flicks, Lyle Della Verde is also fiercely competitive." http://www.fulhamfc.com/player-profiles/lyle-della-verde
Here he is scoring the 1st goal in this game. Good run and good goal! [video=youtube;gx99plr9Oz8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx99plr9Oz8[/video]
Taken from Fulhams wiki page... "He is capable of playing anywhere in the middle of the park from a winger to a box-to-box midfielder, and can also play as a support striker" http://fulham.wikia.com/wiki/Lyle_Della-Verde
Great stuff. So is Sinclair's injury worse than we thought or is this just competition for the others?
[video=youtube;uRGo_vfyNA8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRGo_vfyNA8&list=UU7dLKUWi0j2nvokTme6U4TQ[/video]
DC on this signing: "I mentioned him last season (to John Ward) but we couldn't get him in. I've watched him a couple of times and he's always impressed me. He can play on either flank, has tricks in the locker and is very attack-minded. The kid's got potential so it's a good deal."
Clarke on Della Verde's debut: "I thought he looked good when he came on. He didn't show any signs of nerves on his professional debut and he settled in to the pace of the game pretty quickly. He certainly looks like he may have the tools to unlock a defence and we'll see how he goes over the few weeks he is here." I must say that I am excited about this player. I cant wait to see him play on the weekend.
He looks like a player who can do something different and hopefully provide a bit more quality in front of goal...
