Fulham Younglings

Does anyone have any tidbits on some of our young reserve players that could end up being squad players down the road? I am curious as to whether our academy and reserve program is doing anything to produce future players. While I realize our youth set-up isn't exactly Arsenalesque, it would be nice to sometimes produce a player of players of real quality from our youth ranks. I have done a little digging, but please if someone has better or more info than what I've found do us the honors and share. Here is what I've found on a few players that will hopeully one day don the black and white for the 1st Team.


Marcelo Trotta 17 yr old Striker from Italy

Apparently this guy is a beast, and even looks a little like Zamora. There is a cool article about him on the offal which I've pasted a link to below.
http://www.fulhamfc.com/Club/News/NewsA ... rview.aspx

Trotta is part of the U-18's but has made quite a few appearances for the reserve side and scored the lone goal against the Portsmouth reserves in a 1-0 win, and also added another in the last reserve game of the season. According to an article I read, Trotta scored for fun with the U-18 team although I don't have a tally. He was part of the Napoli youth set-up and then went to Man City in 2008 before coming to Fulham. Trotta has played for the Italian U-19's and is a solid prospect for the future.

Michael Umezu 19yr old Nigerian-born striker

You may have noticed him on the substitutes list several times this season, in particlur in making the substitutes list for the Europa League match at Basel, and home and away versus CSKA Sofia. Uwezu has made steady progress since joining Fulham 3 years ago. This season, he scored 3 goals for the reserves and spent time on loan at Lincoln City where he made two 1st team appearances. From the offal:

"Uwezu has also been under the watchful eye of Roy Hodgson, with the young striker a regular in the Manager’s First Team training sessions.
Frequently taking his place on the Motspur Park viewing balcony, the Manager too will be aware of the progression Uwezu has made over the last 12 months as he pushes his way up the Club’s striking order. “I have a lot of strikers ahead of me,” reasons Michael. “But it’s clear that the Manager thinks about the younger players, which is great. To be working so closely with him in training is unbelievable and I’ve already learned a lot."


Christopher Butchmann 17 yr old German left mid or left back

Part of the German U-17 2009 Euro Champions. From that tournament Uefa touted him to be in the top 10 stars of the future which can only bode well for us. Butchman you remember was purchased from Liverpool in the January window and has been very impressive. He scored in his debut for the reserves and ended with 2 goals and multiple assists. Take a look at this story on him from the offal for more info.

http://www.fulhamfc.com/Club/News/NewsA ... ranks.aspx

This kid could some day be a star. Let's hope so.


Keanu Marsh-Brown 18 yr old right back

Coudn't find as much info on him as some of the others but from reading some of the match reports the kid sounds like he gets up and down the flank. He is an England Youth International and came to us from Arsenal and I 've heard that a lot of their supporters were not happy that they lost him to us.

Danny Hoesen 19yr old Dutch Striker

Danny ended the season with 4 goals playing for the reserves, and from the match reports I read he has been a menace for the opposition and found himself with plenty of scoring opportunities. His performances were impressive enough to earn a loan to HJK Helsinki in Finland thru the end of August. Danny has appeared in all 5 matches for Helsinki and has 2 assists and is second on the team in shots taken. Hopefully young Danny continues to get first team football with Helsinki and can use the experience he gains their to his advantage when he returns to the Whites.


Matthew Briggs 19yr old defender

Don't think I need to say much about Briggs as we are all familiar with him but I did want to say that he should continue to play a big role for the England U-19's in their Euro qualifications. Briggs captained the U-19's against Holland in March and maybe we are looking at the future Fulham skipper.


Cheick Touré 17 yr old Ivorian center back

This guy looks like a specimen. Check out the article from the offal in the link below and his picture. Dude looks big!

http://www.fulhamfc.com/Club/News/NewsA ... Toure.aspx

There were several points from the article that I really liked. Firstly, the kid loves the game. I lived in Brazil for 18 months and I saw kids everywhere playing bare foot in dirt fields covered with rocks. This is a humble kid and you can see that he is hungry to get better. Loved this quote of his...
“But that setback made me want to succeed even more and I decided to do all I could to make sure that happened. I started coming in at 7am and doing extra work in the gym, as well as extra defensive sessions after training. “I made even more of an effort to learn English and would speak and think it as much as possible because I was determined to not let this opportunity pass. I feel as my English has got better, so has my football. “They were things that I just had to do, and still do to this day. I now know what my position entails; I know when I have to drop off, squeeze or push forward."

I'm looking for some good stuff out of this kid if he continues to work. What do you guys think? Anyone have more info on anyone?

 

Thanks Oms, always good to read about the youngsters.