TWO FLOURISHED IN YEAR TALENTS WHO HAVE PREMIER LEAGUE THE SLOW-BURNING THE START TO LIFE IN AFTER A LOW-KEY
WE’VE all see them at our clubs, the signing who looks out of his depth, underwhelming, surplus to requirements, too young, not ready, or those who simply just disappear out of sight. And then, something strange happens. With a season under their belts to get used to the scenery the boo boys’ favourite blossoms, the misfit starts firing. As a kid I watched Duncan Shearer go from lumbering no-mark to bedroom wall-hero status, with 79 goals in 164 games for Swindon. So here’s to the Premier League’s slow burners, late developers and proved-you-wrongers. We never should have doubted them.
PEDRO NETO WOLVES
With the stocky build and musketeer’s facial hair, it’s easy to forget the Wolves winger was just 19 when he arrived at Molineux from Braga in 2019. That’s if you noticed him at all. Bedded in slowly during his first season in England, 20 of the winger’s 29 appearances came from the bench. This season, with Raul Jimenez injured and Adama Traore subdued, the tricky wideman has become Wolves’ primary attacking threat, bagging five goals and four assists. Indeed he has scored or created 36 per cent of Wolves’ league goals this term. But Neto, ironically, is not about the numbers, he’s about entertainment. Spend 90 minutes with the former Lazio loanee and it’s easy to be reminded of another Portuguese winger who arrived on these shores as a teenager.
JOAO CANCELO MAN CITY
With the part-exchange deal which brought him to Manchester City two summers ago valued at £60million, Cancelo became the world’s most expensive full-back. An unfair burden for a man traditionally tasked with bombing up and down the flank, it was tempting to expect more for such an exorbitant sum, perhaps a superhero power, an operatic voice or at the very least a 24-hour butler. Instead, Cancelo couldn’t even hold down the day job, with Kyle Walker restricting the Portuguese to 17 league games. But in year two, Cancelo has been a revelation, popping up all over the field like some five-a-side sensation, equally adept in defence or attack, flying down the flank or holding court in the middle. Now if he could just work on the singing, it’s money well spent.
TANGUY NDOMBELE TOTTENHAM
When the most notable act of your first season at a club is getting busted for training in the park with the manager you know you’ve had a shocker. When you’re the club’s record signing, and the manager thinks you’ve been so bad he needs to break lockdown to take you to the park, it’s even worse. But credit where it’s due, Tottenham’s French midfielder has rebounded from ignominy to shine brightly in his second season in north London. The souped-up Moussa Dembele is a highlights reel of flicks, turns and ridiculous finishes (see his recent goal at Sheffield United – he definitely meant it). In a season where fun is in short supply at Spurs, Ndombele is putting much-needed smiles on faces.
KIERAN TIERNEY ARSENAL
A lengthy injury lay-off and subsequent slow recovery restricted the former Celtic defender to 15 league games in his first season at
Arsenal and Tierney also had to cope with the sacking of the manager who bought him, Unai Emery. But when the season resumed last summer the Scotland international showed the kind of form which persuaded Arsenal to pay around £25m for his services in August 2019. This season Tierney has become a mainstay, industrious at full-back or wing-back and also looking comfortably at home on the left of a back-three. Bags bonus points for representing his Glaswegian roots with regular appearances in training during the cold snap wearing shorts, short sleeves and no gloves.
JUSTIN JAMES LEICESTER
Signed as one for the future from hometown Luton Town in 2019, the versatile defender still managed 13 appearances in the Premier League last term, having never previously played at a higher level than League One. This season James has been consistently brilliant, seizing the opportunity afforded by the absence of regular right-back Ricardo to become one of the Foxes’ stand-out players, with talk of an England callup before injury struck last week.
CHE ADAMS SOUTHAMPTON Yeah,
so his four league goals so far this season is no more than the striker managed in his first term at St Mary’s, a campaign where his failure to score in his first 29 games made him something of a laughing stock. But while the goals may not have flowed – none since a spell of four in eight games ended in December – the burly, yet skilful, former Sheffield United and Birmingham youngster has other aspects to his game. He’s provided four assists this season and led the line – he’s also the first line of defence – for Ralph Hasenhuttl’s men with pace and energy.
ALEXIS MAC ALLISTER BRIGHTON
Aside from the curious name, the Argentine playmaker offered little in his first season at Brighton, having initially remained in South America on loan after his transfer in January 2019. But, much like Graham Potter’s entire regime, the 2020-21 campaign has been much more promising. Mac Allister, who has Scottish and Irish ancestry, has begun to carve out a regular role in attacking midfield, impressing in defeat at Manchester City and victory at Leeds, his progress only briefly checked by a bout of coronavirus. Argentines wearing the No.10 shirt carry a heavy burden, but Mac Allister is starting to suggest he is cut out to handle it.
MATT TARGETT ASTON VILLA
A team full of full-backs? I know, I know. The fee which took Targett from Southampton to Aston Villa in 2019 was undisclosed but its fair to assume he cost less than a sixth of what Manchester City paid for Cancelo. Well, he’s not a sixth of the player. Along with Tyrone Mings, Ezri Konsa and Matty Cash, Targett makes up an extremely unheralded back four which has conceded just 24 goals in 22 league games – second only to City in the top ten. Quick, tireless, positionally disciplined and with a mean left foot, the Villa man is another being backed for unexpected England recognition.
CALLUM STYLES’ wizardry on the ball has seen him labelled the Bury Baggio, but the Barnsley wing-back admits he had to look up who he was being compared to.
The 20-year-old has been earning rave reviews for his performances in the Championship but is modest about the comparisons with Italy legend Roberto Baggio, who won 56 international caps between 1988 and 2004.
‘I think it’s because my hairstyle is similar to Baggio,’ says Styles. ‘I don’t know who came up with it but I can see a little resemblance.
‘I’ve been playing wing-back but I’ve been scoring, so I think that’s where it’s come from.
‘I had heard of his name a couple of times but I had to look him up because obviously it is a while back and I am only young.’
But there is no doubt Styles has put an emphasis on the kind of skills that made Baggio one of the best players in the world since being released aged 16 by boyhood club Burnley, having been there since he was seven.
Keen to prove the Clarets wrong, he became a dedicated futsal player and credits the hours spent practicing with the smaller ball as crucial in making him the player he is today.
‘My dad wanted me to get loads of touches on the ball to improve my onthe-ball play. It was good fun,’ he says.
‘It helped me improve because it is all technical. With a smaller ball you have to use more skill as it is harder to manipulate. And it helps you improve your mind because it is so quick.
‘It’s a smaller pitch and it gets your football brain going. If you instil that into young footballers they could take it all the way through their career.’
Styles even resorted to playing with the futsal on his own, using different parts of the foot to manipulate the ball, during lockdown.
‘I always need to be doing something to help improve whether it’s physical – upper body or lower body – or analysiswise,’ he adds. ‘You can always improve every day.’
On his exit from Burnley he says: ‘I had been there so long but I don’t think I have finished proving my point because I want to get to the very top.
Styles quickly reignited his career at Bury, where he was born, after the Turf Moor rejection and had the notable distinction of being the first man
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COUNTRIES STYLES IS ELIGIBLE TO REPRESENT INTERNATIONALLY. AS WELL AS ENGLAND, THE BURY-BORN 20-YEAR-OLD COULD ALSO PLAY FOR EITHER HUNGARY OR UKRAINE
born in this millennium to play in the Football League.
But a proud moment for Styles backfired on the Shakers, who were docked three points for not having the right paperwork for him. He says: ‘I was on the pitch — it was out of my control what happened. I was buzzing to make my debut while I was at school. I just turned had 16.’
While Bury cashed in on Styles, , their subsequent demise has been n hard to take for the Manchester r United fan, who cannot understand d why bigger sides didn’t help to save e the club.
‘It should never have happened with h the amount of money in football,’ he e says. ‘I can’t believe how nobody dy helped. It was just brushed to the side.
‘It was sad because they were the start of my career and I made very good relationships there.
‘Hopefully they will bounce back and work their way up the pyramid.
‘But it is sad and disappointing that nobody as a collective could get together and start something to help.’
Barnsley initially loaned Styles back to Bury after paying £500,000 in the summer of 2018 but he broke into the Tykes’ side towards the end of the campaign as they secured promotion
to the Championship. He became a regular after lockdown last term and got the opening goal in the 2-1 win at Brentford on the final day to complete a great escape against relegation.
‘It’s the highlight of my career,’ he says. ‘We were written off from early in the season so the achievement to stay up is beyond belief. It will be in the history books forever.
‘It was a mad mixture of emotions. Unfortunately there were no fans there but it felt like they were because of the
atmosphere we created.’ Barnsley, who visit Bristol City tomorrow, have thrived under boss Valerien Ismael this term and Styles made his 100th senior appearance in the recent 1-0 FA Cup defeat to Chelsea before last weekend enjoying another memorable victory at Brentford, ending the Londoners’ 21-game unbeaten run with a 2-0 win.
‘We just carried it on from lockdown at the end of last season. We have a really good group of players and have worked really hard,’ says Styles.
DEAN SMITH may now be among the managerial elite with Aston Villa but he started off with four-and-ahalf years at Walsall before leaving for Brentford with the Saddlers fourth in League One.
A shade over five years since Smith’s exit, what does it say about Walsall now that with the club in mid-table in League Two, they saw manager Darrell Clarke swap the Banks’s Stadium for 18th-placed League Two rivals Port Vale?
The Valiants have made clear their excitement at landing the 43-year-old, who won two promotions at both Salisbury and Bristol Rovers, the latter of whom Clarke once stayed loyal to when Leeds came calling.
Owner Carol Shanahan certainly didn’t rush into the appointment after sacking John Askey, with the club last week having named David Flitcroft director of football.
Meanwhile, it’s hard to escape the feeling Clarke decided Walsall could not fulfil his ambitions, particularly in the wake of the transfer deadline-day exits of key men Elijah Adebayo and Zak Jules.
The rumour mill was in full swing over the weekend, with Clarke also being linked with the vacancies at Northampton and former club Rovers.
But as they embarked on a run of 12 games in six weeks the feeling at Walsall was that Clarke left them in the lurch.
‘The situation became unstable during the weekend and I became aware of interest from Port Vale,’ said Saddlers chairman Leigh Pomlett. ‘I am
disappointed and I am somewhat angry about the situation. But that soon goes, life moves on and we have to find a solution to the problem.’
That solution, perhaps surprisingly, is Clarke’s No.2 Brian Dutton – until the end of the season at least – who slightly curiously took part in a mock job interview with the chairman a fortnight ago.
It means Dutton stepping out of the shadow of a man he was captain for at Salisbury before following him to Rovers and Walsall. He began with a 2-1 home defeat to Cheltenham on Tuesday but, as Smith showed, there are worse places to cut your managerial teeth.