Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
From non-league to Premier League in just 17 months?
Liverpool ‘lead chase’ to sign teenage star
Premier League leaders Liverpool have been tipped as the favourites to sign a teenage football star from Herne Bay. Speculation has surrounded the future of former Simon Langton schoolboy Sam Mccallum, who signed for Coventry City shortly after finishing his A-levels last year.
The talented 19-year-old leftback has also caught the eye of top-flight clubs Leicester and Aston Villa, having had a flying season for the Midlands side. But it is believed Liverpool are frontrunners to sign the youngster - who was playing non-league football with Herne Bay FC just 17 months ago. However, Sam’s dad, Jon Warden, says his son’s agent is yet to receive any “concrete” approaches.
He told the Gazette: “We’re not sure of the authenticity of it all. “The main person we would speak to about any of this would be his agent, and they haven’t come to us. Obviously Sam will see it, but in an ideal world you’d keep it away from him because until something concrete comes in or contact is made, it’s all pie in the sky.”
Andrew Robertson is firmly established as Liverpool’s firstchoice left-back, but the current Champions League-holders are lacking a specialist back-up. And manager Jurgen Klopp has refused to rule out making a bid for a full-back in the January transfer window. “We’re not waiting for the phone to ring,” said Mr Warden,
who is a coach at Herne Bay Youth FC.
“Sam’s in a good place as it is. He’s quite happy at Coventry. “We’ve seen it time and time again, even at Coventry, where people moved on to a potentially bigger club and you now go, ‘where are they now?’” Sam has had a meteoric rise over the last four years.
At the age of 15 he feared his hopes of a career in football were over after he was dropped from Gillingham’s academy. Despite this, the determined youngster continued playing and broke into Herne Bay’s first team. But it was his performances at the V9 Academy – set up by Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy to spot non-league talent – which caught the eye of scouts at Coventry City.
The transfer saw Sam leap five tiers from the Isthmian South East Division to League One. “He’s come a long way in a short space of time,” added Mr Warden. “We still pinch ourselves. He still can’t believe that just over a year ago he was still playing for his local club.”