Saints have today shown us eight boys that are now on full time scholarships. The one that caught my eye was Sam Gallagher. At 6' 4" Sam is a handful for opponents which he showed by scoring a hat-trick on his debut for the Under-16s last season following his arrival from Plymouth Argyle.Interesting to see that we are collecting kids from other academies as well.
Most if not all have been part-timers and have played with our academy teams prior to signing full time. I just think that this group have been chosen as they have something which the club thinks is worth developing further. Charlie has already made a good start when he played and scored for us against a Pompey side as captain.
6'4" is massive for a 16 year old. Considering most boys have a growth spurt in their late teens, he probably still has a bit to grow. The u18s have some crazy firepower with Sinclair, Gallagher and Seager all available. The left back Matt Targett is meant to be pretty handy too and will see plenty of game time with Luke Shaw in the development/first teams.
TBH i am more excited about prospects that are small and thin, means they have to have good technical skills to get by, kids will always grow to be athletes, so when i see a 6 foot 4 youth player you can tell the reason he is so good is because he is just the big strong kid, not saying that this kid isnt good just saying at his age its hard to tell
I'd be worried as well. Has he just stood out his whole life because he's bigger than everybody else in both his team and the oppositions? Then again, Peter Crouch must have been a big 16 year old, and he turned out alright. The question is, How tall is Gallagher's mother?
Very true. Massive advantage over other kids his age. Like you, not saying he's crap, but it is hard to tell when he has such a natural advantage.
A player I would definatley keep an eye on would be Jake Hesketh. I'm good friends with him and have played with him and he was so much better than anyone I've ever played with. I remember entering school tournament and we weren't expecting to do well in it and he was moved up a year to play with us. We entered That tournament, won it and earned our chance to pay at SMS. A small, nippy and technically very very gifted player and the ball just sticks to his feet, I used to just win the ball and give it to him and he would go on and beat 2/3 players and score it was brilliant!!
sorry... I should have explained that I had just read a thread saying we need a CB... my mind drifted and thought 6'4" .. that is an imposing size for a CB.... that is all.
Has anyone seen Gallagher play? A lot of times the tall kids are a bit uncoordinated. Does he have good control of the ball when it is at his feet? Crouch was good in the air but with the ball at his feet it was scary. If he had a decent ball control with his feet at this age and height then he is likely to be in good shape as he ages.
I think with the standard of our academy, any player who gets a scholarship is a good player with the right skills. They will be given top class training and every advantage that we can give them, but not every player makes it. That's a fact of life. However, they will also be taught life skills so a great opportunity for them.
