If anyone had said the name ‘Bilal Kamal’ to me before Saturday night I would have shrugged my shoulders, looked more vacant than normal and said: ‘Who?’
He only popped up on my radar courtesy of a picture in my Twitter timeline. Putting pen to paper on a ‘long-term’ Canary contract stood next to a beaming David McNally.
But still he rang no bells. So, you Googled. And he’s there; on YouTube; scoring something of a worldy. For Norwich Under-14s.
And he’s just signed a ‘long term’ contract.
So you dig a little bit more; I’m now curious. And there he was, a 90th minute substitute for City’s Under-18s as they beat Southampton Under-18s 2-1.
Southampton as in Southampton the South Coast teenage footballer factory. Top six in the English Premier League.
So you dig again. Deeper this time. And there is our Bilal picking up a gong in last season’s Academy Awards. As in Colney, not Hollywood.
‘Part of the Under-14 team that beat Arsenal in the third place play-off at Premier League National Tournament before going on to win ‘Midfielder of the Tournament’,’ read the citation.
OK. Cool. Hence why the kid is there putting pen to paper on a ‘long term’ contract. Aged 15?
The interest was sparked by the story of Patrick Bamford. As in the 19-goal England Under-21 striker short-listed as the SkyBet Championship Player of the Season who rocked up in Norfolk on Friday night with Middlesbrough – where he is on loan from Chelsea.
Chelsea producing an English talent of their own? Wow. There’s a first. And at 6ft 2in tall, he actually looks the proper Premiership part.
Only, of course, Chelsea didn’t produce him. Nottingham Forest did. Born in Grantham, an A-Level student at Nottingham High School, he made two fleeting substitutes appearances for the club that had long nurtured his teenage talents before Chelsea offered £1.5m for the then 18-year-old in January, 2012.
The lad was due to be out of contract that summer; his father and his agent twice turned Forest down leaving chairman Frank Clark with little or no option but to do a deal with the Premiership Champions elect. For £1.5m.
There may well be a case of keeping Master Kamal’s talents ‘under wraps’; that maybe even writing this piece will be seen as doing the Canaries something of a disservice. ‘Shhh…’ used to be the response. Don’t make a fuss.
Fine. If the kid is winning ‘Midfield Player of the Tournament’ in a Premier League setting and beating Arsenal to boot, he will be in the little black book of every Premier League scout in the country. Already.
But, he is at least, a signed Canary player. On a long term deal.
I’m guessing. But let’s say that long-term deal is five years. Takes him through till he is 20. If he progresses at his current rate of knots, he will be expected to be in and around the first team by the time he is 18 or 19.
If he’s not, then he’s not that good. If they’re good enough, they’re old enough. I still remember an 18-year-old midfielder by the name of Jonjo Shelvey single-handedly dismantling the Canaries at The Valley one afternoon.
These are the talents that you want in your midst; kids that are home-grown; kids that care; kids that can make all the difference at that Premier League level when the alternative is to place your faith in the next Ricky van Wolfswinkel.
But here’s the fear. If Norwich start to finally churn out the kind of talents that can compete at that level, how long will they be here?
Clearly, given the reported £150m prize that is membership of the EPL, City will be far better placed to see off the advances of a Chelsea or an Arsenal than Forest ever were when the King’s Road came a-calling.
But money won’t matter if the opportunity on offer is Champions League football. And a big pad over-looking the Thames. It will take an extraordinary young man to say ‘Nah, I’m fine here…’
In a Norwich. Or a Nottingham.
Strikes me that as Colney appears to be delivering in terms of this young man and his FA Youth Cup winning peers, you’re damned if you do… and damned if you don’t.
Damned to rely on a RvW if you don’t produce your own; damned to watch a Patrick Bamford walk if you do.
What the answer is, I’ve no idea. But congrats on your new deal, Bilal.
Sounds a great prospect. However, one has to ask where is the class of 2012? That great youth team that dismantled Chelski in the final of the youth cup? Only Josh Murphy has had a reasonable tilt and to be honest he has faded in the second half of the season and doesn’t look like he can lay claim to a permanent place on current form. Loza looks the ticket, but he’s only made 5 appearances and where is he now? As for the rest? Some seem happy to ply their trade in the lower leagues which is fine for a season’s loan. But when it becomes a second season, and then there’s talk of a permanent deal then I’m afraid I start to lose interest.
This was a cup winning squad don’t forget and several of those lads should now be setting the world alight. One has to ask, when did we last have a youth product who blazed a trail, played first team football for a few seasons and then went on to (even) bigger and better things. I’m sure the attrition rate at other clubs is pretty high too, but I’ve lost count of the times i’ve seen yet another 18 year old starlet from Southampton warming up to come on and make an instant impact from the sub’s bench. Apart from Loza, when have we enjoyed that feeling in the recent past?
I’ve often looked at this sort of thing and actually wondered the thought process of the young player. Put it like this, a young player gets his early recognition, voted midfielder of the year at u15. The future looks promising to break into a championship/ lower prem team. The question now asked is what is your wish from football? Breaking into a first team, getting games and getting established or move to a ‘ big’ club and be loaned from pillar to post in lower teams than the place you started. The list of players who disappear from trace into the grinding mill of the big clubs is endless as they are crushed under the weight of another big foreign transfer.
By exhibit a – Nathan Redmond. Touted for big things, all the attributes of a class player but at this stage not ready to impact a really big club. So he stays at Norwich, gets game time, develops and then moves when he’s ready. I bet his money in our first team is very nearly or actually better than the Chelsea u21 team. Wise move to stay put and make the move when its right for his career as it actually is rather than what his potential (as yet unrealized) says it might be.
In my mind is the agents selling a dream, rather than encouraging the hard work that has probably got so many young players to the stage they’re at.
How many players do Chelsea have out on loan? It can’t be good for the big clubs to hoover up all the young talent, home and abroad, then loan them out it the hope that one or two might make it.
It stifles the a clubs own home grown players. There should be a limit to the number of players that a club can have out on loan. Five is more than enough!
Oh, for another Chris Sutton. But what are the chances now? Josh Murphy has been, or was for a while, depending how you look at it, a refreshing sight. He may yet come good, but I have to agree that if he really was that good he’d already be a regular in the Norwich side or at another club.
That young man needs a hair cut! Seriously, one Fellaini bob is 1 too many.
Good luck to Bilal but the attrition rate for youth players must be pushing 98% or more. It won’t improve until there is a quota on foreign players introduced.
Wonder how much he’s on – in a world where Jordan Henderson is paid 100k a week, the need for a reality check is a desperate one.
@3 fribbs – to answer your question, earlier in the season, Chelsea had 26 players out on loan. Some were overseas on season long loans, but the majority were playing in the Championship or below.
Rick, as a general question, I thought there was a minimum age before a youngster could sign a professional contract, either 17 or 18.Has this changed?