Ahead of the Game: Identify Child Football Prodigies here

great 'when showboating goes wrong' example at the start of that vid.

yes, and the failed showboater could maybe have stood in front of the free kick or covered the unmarked guy who crosses for the goal

perkele!

also recently found out a friend's husband was once a gk in the finnish 2nd division. semi-pro team but sounded like a hell of a good time from his stories.

i sort of want to ask tuomas if he has heard of jari litmanen

AC Milan have paid over €500,000 for 14-year-old Hachim Mastour, according to Gazzetta dello Sport.

The attacking midfielder is reported to have been brought to the Italian giants’ attention by former San Siro manager Arrigo Sacchi.

The move from Reggiana has been confirmed by his agent Dario Paolillo, and the Serie A side’s vice-president, Adriano Galliani, believes the youngster needs to mature in a pressure-free environment.

Galliani went on record to say: “Mastour seems to have great qualities, but let’s not put too much pressure on him. Mastour is 14 years old. He's the future. But he’s still just a kid.”

According to reports, Milan have beaten Barcelona, Real Madrid and Inter to the youngster's signature.

Full name Adryan Oliveira Tavares
Date of birth October 8, 1994 (age 17)

Scored a nice goal on his senior club debut last week. This video shows him mostly at the U-17 World Cup I think. To quote Ismael, "a kid who's obviously got it imo."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRZA4M-3Vio

THIS talented Irish player is set to take the football world by storm — after signing for Barcelona FC.

Zak Gilsenan, nine, from Castleknock, Dublin, has been snapped up by the Spanish giants after wowing scouts when he scored SEVEN goals in a trial.

The schoolboy saw off 400 other starlets to seal a place at the FCBEscola football academy — which has produced such famous stars as Xavi, Iniesta and Zak’s favourite player Lionel Messi.

Dad Stephen Gilsenan said the whole family will now up sticks and move to Spain to help the midfield ace follow his dream.

Stephen told the Irish Sun: “We were living in Australia when Zak was spotted by Spurs, who were running football camps over there.

Proud dad ... Stephen with Barcelona bound Zak
“We came home with the intention of letting Zak go to Spurs, but in the meantime we had a call from Barcelona. One of their former players saw him playing in Oz and recommended him to Barca.

“They offered Zak a trial in May and it was a great experience. It consisted of over 400 boys from all over the world. He was asked back in June when it was cut down to 90.

“Then in a match between the top 16 players, Zak just ran riot and scored seven goals. He was phenomenal. Then we heard back two weeks ago and they offered him a spot.”

Zak will be joined in Spain by Stephen, mum Claudia, brother Jamie and actress sister Danielle.

He will now come face-to-face with Ireland’s Galactico — Mayo lad John Joe Patrick Finn. In May we revealed how the youngster, whose dad is from Ballyhaunis, signed for the other Spanish giants, Real Madrid.

Seven goals ... Zak
Mining company worker Stephen said: “I know Zak is young to be doing this but kids are like a sponge at this age.

“People say we are mad but in Barcelona he will be educated in the best footballing techniques.

“All we can do is go and see how it develops. We know it’s ruthless over there. We don’t want him turned into a machine, we just want him to enjoy it. It’s his dream to play for Ireland.”

estimate percent chance zak gilsenan displaces paul mcshane from the left wing position prior to ireland's 3-0 loss to macedonia in the 2022 world cup qualifiers

Then in a match between the top 16 players, Zak just ran riot and scored seven goals

Hm, I can't help picturing a father who can't believe his luck. If Zak were really all that he'd be all blasé, talking about workrate and stuff, not about how he thought the third wheel looked like it was going to be a lemon but then it clicked onto a cherry and I'd like to thank me mam, barcelona and god.

Zak's the new Jon Chard imo.

he's got the hair of a Barcelona youth

http://www.balls.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/zak.png

telltale irish complexion and football skills tho

odds on trapp wondering if he can call him up today (messi already disproving the 'too small for the big time' theory)

You must be thinking of some other Trap. Check out the other kid mentioned in the article though. Might end up playing for Spain but it'd probably be worth it to have someone called John Joe Patrick Finn winning the World Cup

http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01500/SNE0207B--5322_1500751a.jpg

judging by that pic he will be a boring defensive midfielder who will nonetheless win the world cup and the european championships before marrying a supermodel

JJ Patrick Finn and young Gilsenan should provide Robbie Keane the service he needs come 2022.

signs on the lads their folks moved off foreign, else they'd be getting the shite horsed out of them at minor gaa matches before deciding they'd rather take up accountancy

is that your secret origin

that was the fuckin high point, tbh

Chelsea now going to buy Eden's little brother, Thorgan.

Disappointed. I was hoping he was called 'Water' tbh.

signs on the lads their folks moved off foreign, else they'd be getting the shite horsed out of them at minor gaa matches

dublin u-9 football champion, 1991. official gaa medal and all.

Sonny Pike, Cherno Samba, and other wunderkinds who didn't make it

i played u-11 hurling for donegal, which may well be the lowest level at which one can partake in said sport tbrr

I'm still only 30 btw

sayin'

That Liverpool fan's top 100 youths list is enjoyable.

19. Baldo Di Gregorio (CB, Eintract Frankfurt)
20. Andres Iniesta (AM, Barcelona)

Baldo (great name for a centre-back btw) is currently playing for Gostaresh Foolad in the Iranian second division.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=DThjb_XyyoU

No mention of Foday Nabay here.

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11661/7913738/City-target-talented-teen

Heh heh: Islam Feruz gets stroppy, has twitter account deleted. I think that's a first for one of our prodigies.

Have heard quite a few stories of him being a billy big-baws around Glasgow, walking off 5-a-side pitches in the huff if everyone doesn't worship his awesomeness etc.

good luck playing the big dog at Chelsea, sonny

hed have a hard time on blaize huh

estimate percent chance islam feruz has a better career than freddy adu

watching Tottenham-Barcelona in the NextGen series after reading raves about Barça Juvenil's #6 midfield pivot Sergi Samper - Xavi comparisons obviously, and Pirlo. He hasn't done much in the first half, Spurs have some good-looking players though, Coulibaly and a quick footed right winger who looks like Gareth Bale's little brother.

Glancing at their roster it appears that only 6 of 27 Juvenil players are black, but at least 4 are on the pitch right now, it's noticeable. I didn't realize La Masia was making inroads w/r/t racial diversity. The Reyes-Henry-Aragones incident was a while ago now, but iirc Laurent Blanc claimed there were no black players in the Spanish youth setup when defending his own country's quota system.

I can see that Samper is talented, very technical of course and excellent decision making on the ball, plus determined pressing. This side is much quicker in spreading play to the flanks than Busquets-Xavi-Iniesta teams normally are, so he's not as vital to the team's play. Wingers Alain Ebwelle and Adama Traore have been the standouts.

have you noticed Pritchard for Spurs? Blonde kid. i read reports that he was the best for Spurs

He looked good on the left, when he was played as more of an AMC Samper and the excellently named Macky Bagnack marked him out of the match.

Generally I thought quality of play was high and hope to watch more of this competition, provided my Saturday evenings continue to be dull.

http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_by_ives/2012/10/us-u-17-star-flores-signs-with-dortmund.html

bit positive reaction to this in us soccer circles

bit = big

Flores also signed a two-year deal with Nike, which kicks in immediately

Does this disqualify you from being a child prodigy? I dunno.

USA Under-17 international Junior Flores has claimed he has signed for Borussia Dortmund, but the German champions have denied that a deal has been done.

Flores, 16, has been monitored by several European teams, including Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool, since impressing in the Nike International Friendlies tournament last year.

The Washington Post reported on Thursday that Dortmund had wrapped up a deal for the youngster, after speaking to the player's father.

"We're so happy about the Dortmund deal. We still don't believe it's really happening," Oscar Flores said.

However, by the time the news had made its way across the Atlantic to Germany, Dortmund's director of football Michael Zorc was quick to refute the claim that a deal had been finalised.

"We know him, he is an interesting boy. But there is no contractual relation", Zorc told Ruhr Nachrichten.

The confusion did not stop there though, as Flores took to his Twitter account to reassure his followers that the move had in fact gone ahead.

"I actually did sign with Dortmund and couldn't be any happier", he tweeted.

The reported four-year deal would not go into effect until March 2014, when Flores turns 18 and is eligible to begin his pro career.

Flores is an attacking midfielder currently is in his second year of full-time residency with the USA Under-17 program in Bradenton.

the plot sickens

I watched another NextGen match the other day, Wolfsburg 0-5 Barcelona - honestly though it was a match until the three late goals, I'm sure the Barça coach won't be happy with their defending or composure. Samper was really on another level than everybody else, but he can't catch the eye as an offensive playmaker too much because he's the deepest-lying of their midfielders, there's no Busquets type behind him. Wolfsburg had some good-looking players and were well suited to a counter-attacking style, just didn't finish any chances.

AC Milan have paid over €500,000 for 14-year-old Hachim Mastour, according to Gazzetta dello Sport.

The attacking midfielder is reported to have been brought to the Italian giants’ attention by former San Siro manager Arrigo Sacchi.

The move from Reggiana has been confirmed by his agent Dario Paolillo, and the Serie A side’s vice-president, Adriano Galliani, believes the youngster needs to mature in a pressure-free environment.

Galliani went on record to say: “Mastour seems to have great qualities, but let’s not put too much pressure on him. Mastour is 14 years old. He's the future. But he’s still just a kid.”

According to reports, Milan have beaten Barcelona, Real Madrid and Inter to the youngster's signature.

― r|t|c, Tuesday, July 3, 2012 5:55 PM (3 months ago) Bookmark

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1pN-3Wkg48

let’s not put too much pressure on him. Mastour is 14 years old. He's the future

I see.

Feel for the big no.9 at 1:03 tbh, taking it off Hachim's toe only to immediately hit traffic, whereupon Hachim only steps in and does that

I think Alen Halilovic of Dinamo Zagreb (born June '96) may have just become the second youngest player in Champions' League history after Celestine Babayaro.

Shaq Coulthirst scored a perfect hat trick in Spurs 4-1 away win against Barcelona in the next gen series today

Quality name too. Sounds like an energy drink.

Not So Keen On His Twitter Style Though. Those Capital Letters Get On Yr Tits After A While.