Trying to analyse how teenage footballers will develop is an incredibly hard job, you only need to look at Manchester United’s Scott McTominay who went from 5ft 6inches tall to 6ft4 in the space of 18-months.
Meeting their parents gives an indication as to physical potential and upbringing but there is no way of knowing – especially at Rangers – how a player will cope with the mental aspects and pressure of playing for a big club – some struggle, others thrive.
You get a pretty good indication early on though as we saw in the cases of Nathan Patterson and Barry Ferguson, two players who immediately played with their chests out and wanted to make a positive impression when others, like Kai Kennedy, appear not to be able to transition from being a promising youngster to an established senior player.
GiveMeSport has picked up an article in The Daily Mail from 2013 in which they tipped teenagers for stardom and two familiar faces make an appearance.
One of those is now a key player and one of the first names on Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s team sheet, John Lundstram, who was described as:
“A complete midfielder, he has already played for England U19s. He is dynamic and sets a tempo for his side. He was one of only two England players picked out by the European Championship tournament committee as among the best U17 talents in Europe last year. They commented on his ability to ‘begin attacking movements’ for his team.”
Lundstram had to take a step backwards to find himself but, if anything, it made him even more determined to make it – his performances in the Europa League were an example of just how good a player he is.
The other was Jordan Rossiter. A player who became a joke figure due to Mark Warburton’s “7-10 days away” updates on the then teenager’s fitness but it was a real coup to sign him from Liverpool in the first place. When he was leading pre-season running drills in Steven Gerrard’s first season it looked as though he was finally going to show what he could do but his body just hasn’t been able to keep up and he finds himself in League 1 with Joey Barton’s Bristol City.
The Mail at the time wrote about his potential:
“He appeared as a late substitute against inter Milan in the NextGen Series on Tuesday. His performance was brief but enough for Robbie Fowler to comment that ‘he could be the next Steven Gerrard.’ Has the attributes for the praise not to become a burden.“
There is no guaranteed pathway for youngsters and each will have to follow their own, Gio put an enormous amount of faith in Leon King at the weekend when he brought teenager on against Hibs when we were down to nine men and, despite the result, he will have been given a huge lift from that. Hopefully, he can follow in former academy team-mate Patterson’s footsteps.
For different reasons players won’t always make the first team at Ibrox, talent is essential but hard work, a positive attitude and a willingness to learn are just as important – it’s just a shame that some don’t realise the opportunity they have until it’s too late.