BLAZING SADDLER
Walsall’s George on the trail of Maguire and Stones
WALSALL starlet George Dobson is hoping to follow the same route to the top as so many of England’s recent World Cup heroes.
Dobson has experienced the polished Premier League setups at Arsenal and West Ham.
But it is at League One playoff hopefuls Walsall where he has really made his mark at first-team level.
The midfielder, Saddlers captain at just 21, said: “Harry Maguire started at Sheffield United and John Stones was at Barnsley. There are a lot of players who have started in the Football League, made their way up and proved it is possible. So all the players in the England team who have done that are the ones you dream of emulating.”
Taking that well-trodden path fits in well with Dobson’s desire to get as much senior experience under his belt as soon as possible.
That aim has shone through his fledgling career. He started out at Arsenal aged eight in the batch behind Alex Iwobi and Ainsley Maitland-Niles, but moved on when he feared plans to convert him to a centre-back would hinder his ambition of first-team football.
He then left boyhood club West Ham – where he played Under-23 football alongside Declan Rice and Grady Diangana – for Sparta Rotterdam due to similar concerns about his pathway being blocked. Now, the setback of falling out of the first-team picture in Holland, when the manager who signed him was sacked, is further fuelling his determination to play.
“Being nowhere near the team, I don’t want that feeling again,” said Dobson. “That drives me on.”
He has got his wish of regular game time since rejoining Walsall in January, following a previous loan spell, and scored the goal against Northampton last season that effectively kept Walsall up.
Ahead of today’s televised clash at Fleetwood, he said: “I could have gone down the road of Under-23s football, but I didn’t want to get stuck in it.
“I wanted to prove I was good enough for men’s football and hopefully work my way back up the leagues.
“As a young player, the experience of playing every week is invaluable.
“The dream is to play in the Premier League but now it is about playing as many games as possible for Walsall, helping them climb the table and seeing where it takes me.
“It would be unbelievable if I could move up the leagues with Walsall.”
‘A lot of players made their way up from the Football League. It is possible’